The devil. 



If the Devil should die, would God make another ? 



A LECTURE 

BY 

/ 

Robert G. Ingersoll. 



New York : 

C. P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER. 

1899. 



SECOND COPY, 
1699. 




3U^ 

,2^ 



& 



r 



35642 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1899, 

By ROBERT G. INGERSOLL, 

In the Office of the librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 



TWO COPIES REC~I 












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THE DEVIL. 

IF THE DEVIL SHOULD DIE WOULD GOD MAKE 

ANOTHER ? 

A little while ago I delivered a lecture on " Super- 
stition, " in which, among other things, I said that 
the Christian world could not deny the existence of 
the Devil ; that the Devil was really the keystone of 
the arch, and that to take him away was to destroy 
the entire system. 

A great many clergymen answered or criticised 
this statement. Some of these ministers avowed 
their belief in the existence of his Satanic Majesty, 
while others actually denied his existence; but some, 
without stating their own position, said that others 
believed, not in the existence of a personal devil, but 
in the personification of evil, and that all references 
to the Devil in the Scriptures could be explained on 
the hypothesis that the Devil thus alluded to was 
simply a personification of evil. 



6 THE DEVIL. 

When I read these answers I thought of this line 
from Heine: "Christ rode on an ass, but now asses 
ride on Christ." 

Now, the questions are, first, whether the Devil 
does really exist; second, whether the sacred Script- 
ures teach the existence of the Devil and of unclean 
spirits, and third, whether this belief in devils is a 
necessary part of what is known as "orthodox 
Christianity." 

Now, where did the idea that a Devil exists come 
from? How was it produced? 

Fear is an artist — a sculptor — a painter. All tribes 
and nations, having suffered, having been the sport 
and prey of natural phenomena, having been struck 
by lightning, poisoned by weeds, overwhelmed by 
volcanoes, destroyed by earthquakes, believed in the 
existence of a Devil, who was the king — the ruler — of 
innumerable smaller devils, and all these devils have 
been from time immemorial regarded as the enemies 
of men. 

Along the banks of the Ganges wandered the 
Asuras, the most powerful of evil spirits. Their 
business was to war against the Devas — that is to 



THE DEVIL. 7 

say, the gods — and at the same time against human 
beings. There, too, were the ogres, the Jakshas and 
many others who killed and devoured human beings. 

The Persians turned this around, and with them 
the Asuras were good and the Devas bad. Ormuzd 
was the good — the god — Ahriman the evil — the devil 
— and between the god and the devil was waged a 
perpetual war. Some of the Persians thought that 
the evil would finally triumph, but others insisted 
that the good would be the victor. 

In Egypt the devil was Set — or, as usually called, 
Typhon — and the good god was Osiris. Set and his 
legions fought against Osiris and against the human 
race. 

Among the Greeks, the Titans were the enemies 
of the gods. Ate was the spirit that tempted, and 
such was her power that at one time she tempted and 
misled the god of gods, even Zeus himself. 

These ideas about gods and devils often changed, 
because in the days of Socrates a demon was not a 
devil, but a guardian angel. 

We obtain our Devil from the Jews, and they got 
him from Babylon. The Jews cultivated the science 



8 THE DEVIL. 

of Demonology, and at one time it was believed that 
there were nine kinds of demons : Beelzebub, prince 
of the false gods of the other nations; the Pythian 
Apollo, prince of liars; Belial, prince of mischief- 
makers; Asmodeus, prince of revengeful devils; 
Satan, prince of witches and magicians; Meresin, 
prince of aerial devils, who caused thunderstorms 
and plagues; Abaddon, who caused wars, tumults 
and combustions; Diabolus, who drives to despair, 
and Mammon, prince of the tempters. 

It was believed that demons and sorcerers fre- 
quently came together and held what were called 
"Sabbats;" that is to say, orgies. It was also known 
that sorcerers and witches had marks on their bodies 
that had been imprinted by the Devil. 

Of course these devils were all made by the people, 
and in these devils we find the prejudices of their 
makers. The Europeans always represent their 
devils as black, while the Africans believed that theirs 
were white. 

So it was believed that people by the aid of the 
Devil could assume any shape that they wished. 
Witches and wizards were changed into wolves, dogs, 



THE DEVIL. 9 

cats and serpents. This change to animal form was 
exceedingly common. 

Within two years, between 1598 and 1600, in one 
district of France, the district of Jnra, more than six 
hundred men and women were tried and convicted 
before one judge of having changed themselves into 
wolves, and all were put to death. 

This is only one instance. There are thousands. 

There is no time to give the history of this belief 
in devils. It has been universal. The consequences 
have been terrible beyond the imagination. Mill- 
ions and millions of men, women and children, of 
fathers and mothers, have been sacrificed upon the 
altar of this ignorant and idiotic belief. 

Of course, the Christians of to-day do not believe 
that the devils of the Hindus, Egyptians, Persians or 
Babylonians existed. They think that those nations 
created their own devils, precisely the same as they 
did their own gods. But the Christians of to-day 
admit that for many centuries Christians did believe 
in the existence of countless devils ; that the Fathers 
of the Church believed as sincerely in the Devil and 



io THE DEVIL. 

his demons as in God and his angels ; that they were 
just as sure about hell as heaven. 

I admit that people did the best they could to 
account for what they saw, for what they experienced. 
I admit that the devils as well as the gods were 
naturally produced — the effect of nature upon the 
human brain. The cause of phenomena filled our 
ancestors not only with wonder, but with terror. The 
miraculous, the supernatural, was not only believed 
in, but was always expected. 

A man walking in the woods at night — just a glim- 
mering of the moon — everything uncertain and 
shadowy — sees a monstrous form. One arm is raised. 
His blood grows cold, his hair lifts. In the gloom he 
sees the eyes of an ogre — eyes that flame with malice. 
He feels that the something is approaching. He turns, 
and with a cry of horror takes to his heels. He is 
afraid to look back. Spent, out of breath, shaking 
with fear, he reaches his hut and falls at the door. 
When he regains consciousnes, he tells his story and, 
of course, the children believe. When they become 
men and women they tell father's story of having 
seen the Devil to their children, and so the children 



THE DEVIL. ii 

and grandchildren not only believe, bnt think they 
know, that their father — their grandfather — actually 
saw a devil. 

An old woman sitting by the fire at night — a storm 
raging without — hears the mournful sough of the 
wind. To her it becomes a voice. Her imagination 
is touched, and the voice seems to utter words. Out 
of these words she constructs a message or a warning 
from the unseen world. If the words are good, she 
has heard an angel ; if they are threatening and 
malicious, she has heard a devil. She tells this to 
her children and they believe. They say that 
mother's religion is good enough for them. A' girl 
suffering from hysteria falls into a trance — has vis- 
ions of the infernal world. The priest sprinkles 
holy water on her pallid face, saying: " She hath a 
devil." A man utters a terrible cry ; falls to the 
ground ; foam and blood issue from his mouth ; his 
limbs are convulsed. The spectators say : " This is 
the Devil's work." 

Through all the ages people have mistaken dreams 
and visions of fear for realities. To them the insane 
were inspired ; epileptics were possessed by devils ; 



12 THE DEVIL. 

apoplexy was the work of an unclean spirit. For 
many centuries people believed that they had actu- 
ally seen the malicious phantoms of the night, and 
so thorough was this belief — so vivid — that they made 
pictures of them. They knew how they looked. 
They drew and chiseled their hoofs, their horns — all 
their malicious deformities. 

Now, I admit that all these monsters were natu- 
rally produced. The people believed that hell was 
their native land ; that the Devil was a king, and 
that he and his imps waged war against the children 
of men. Curiously enough some of these devils were 
made out of degraded gods, and, naturally enough, 
many devils were made out of the gods of other 
nations. So that frequently the gods of one people 
were the devils of another. 

In nature there are opposing forces. Some of the 
forces work for what man calls good ; some for what 
he calls evil. Back of these forces our ancestors put 
will, intelligence and design. They could not be- 
lieve that the good and evil came from the same 
being. So back of the good they put God ; back of 
the evil, the Devil. 



THE DEVIL, 13 



II. 

THE ATLAS OF CHRISTIANITY IS THE DEVIL. 

The religion known as " Christianity " was in- 
vented by God himself to repair in part the wreck 
and rnin that had resulted from the Devil's work. 

Take the Devil from the scheme of salvation — from 
the atonement — from the dogma of eternal pain — and 
the foundation is gone. 

The Devil is the keystone of the arch. 

He inflicted the wounds that Christ came to heal. 
He corrupted the human race. 

The question now is : Does the Old Testament 
teach the existence of the Devil ? 

If the Old Testament teaches anything, it does 
teach the existence of the Devil, of Satan, of the 
Serpent, of the enemy of God and man, the deceiver 
of men and women. 

Those who believe the Scriptures are compelled to 
say that this Devil was created by God, and that God 

knew when he created him just what he would do — 



14 THE DEVIL. 

the exact measure of his success ; knew that he would 
be a successful rival ; knew that he would deceive 
and corrupt the children of men ; knew that, by 
reason of this Devil, countless millions of human 
beings would suffer eternal torment in the prison of 
pain. And this God also knew when he created the 
Devil : that he, God, would be compelled to leave his 
throne, to be born a babe in Palestine, and to suffer 
a cruel death. All this he knew when he created 
the Devil. Why did he create him ? 

It is no answer to say that this Devil was once an 
angel of light and fell from his high estate because 
he was free. God knew what he would do with his 
freedom when he made him and gave him liberty of 
action, and as a matter of fact must have made him 
with the intention that he should rebel ; that he 
should fall ; that he should become a devil ; that he 
should tempt and corrupt the father and mother of 
the human race; that he should make hell a neces- 
sity, and that, in consequence of his creation, count- 
less millions of the children of men would suffer 
eternal pain. Why did he create him ? 

Admit that God is infinitely wise. Has he inge- 



THE DEVIL. 15 

nuity enough, to frame an excuse for the creation of 
the Devil? 

Does the Old Testament teach the existence of a 
real, living Devil ? 

The first account of this being is found in Genesis, 
and in that account he is called the " Serpent." He is 
declared to have been more subtle than any beast of 
the field. According to the account, this Serpent had 
a conversation with Eve, the first woman. We are 
not told in what language they conversed, or how 
they understood each other, as this was the first time 
they had met. Where did Eve get her language? 
Where did the Serpent get his ? Of course, such 
questions are impudent, but at the same time they 
are natural. 

The result of this conversation was that Eve ate 
the forbidden fruit and induced Adam to do the same. 
This is what is called the "Fall," and for this they 
were expelled from the Garden of Eden. 

On account of this, God cursed the earth with 
weeds and thorns and brambles, cursed man with 
toil, made woman a slave, and cursed maternity with 
pain and sorrow. 



16 THE DEVIL. 

How men — good men — can worship this God ; how 
women — good women — can love this Jehovah, is be- 
yond my imagination. 

In addition to the other curses the Serpent was 
cursed — condemned to crawl on his belly and to eat 
dust. We do not know by what means, before that 
time, he moved from place to place — whether he 
walked or flew ; neither do we know on what food he 
lived ; all we know is that after that time he crawled 
and lived on dust. Jehovah told him that this he 
should do all the days of his life. It would seem 
from this that the Serpent was not at that time im- 
mortal — that there was somewhere in the future a 
milepost at which the life of this Serpent stopped. 
Whether he is living yet or not, I am not certain. 

It will not do to say that this is allegory, or a poem, 
because this proves too much. If the Serpent did not 
in fact exist, how do we know that Adam and Eve 
existed ? Is all that is said about God allegory, and 
poetic, or mythical ? Is the whole account, after all, 
an ignorant dream ? 

Neither will it do to say that the Devil — the Ser- 
pent — was a personification of evil. Do personifica- 



THE DEVIL. 17 

tions of evil talk ? Can a personification of evil crawl 
on its belly ? Can a personification of evil eat dust ? 
If we say that the Devil was a personification of evil, 
are we not at the same time compelled to say that 
Jehovah was a personification of good ; that the 
Garden of Eden was the personification of a place, 
and that the whole story is a personification of some- 
thing that did not happen ? Maybe that Adam and 
Eve were not driven out of the Garden ; they may 
have suffered only the personification of exile. And 
maybe the cherubim placed at the gate of Eden, with 
flaming swords, were only personifications of police- 
men. 

There is no escape. If the Old Testament is true, 
the Devil does exist, and it is impossible to explain 
him away without at the same time explaining God 
away. 

So there are many references to devils, and spirits 
of divination and of evil which I have not the time to 
call attention to ; but, in the Book of Job, Satan, the 
Devil has a conversation with God. It is this Devil 
that brings the sorrows and losses on the upright 
man. It is this Devil that raises the storm that 



i8. THE DEVIL. 

wrecks the Homes of Job's children. It is this Devil 
that kills the children of Job. Take this Devil from 
that book, and all meaning, plot and pnrpose fade 
away. 

Is it possible to say that the Devil in Job was only 
a personification of evil ? 

In Chronicles we are told that Satan provoked 
David to number Israel. For this act of David, caused 
by the Devil, God did not smite the Devil, did not 
punish David, but he killed 70,000 poor innocent 
Jews who had done nothing but stand up and be 
counted. 

Was this Devil who tempted David a personifica- 
tion of evil, or was Jehovah a personification of the 
devilish ? 

In Zachariah we are told that Joshua stood before 
the angel of the Lord, and that Satan stood at his 
right hand to resist him, and that the Lord rebuked 
Satan. 

If words convey any meaning, the Old Testament 
teaches the existence of the Devil. 

All the passages about witches and those having 
familiar spirits were born of a belief in the Devil. 



THE DEVIL. 19 

When a man who loved Jehovah wanted revenge on 
his enemy he fell on his holy knees, and from a 
heart full of religion he cried: "Let Satan stand at 
his right hand." 



ao THE DEVIL. 



III. 



TAKE THE DEVIL FROM THE DRAMA OF CHRIST- 
IANITY AND THE PLOT IS GONE. 

The next question is: Does the New Testament 
teach the existence of the Devil? 

As a matter of fact, the New Testament is far 
more explicit than the Old. The Jews, believing 
that Jehovah was God, had very little business for 
a devil. Jehovah was wicked enough and malicious 
enough to take the Devil's place. 

The first reference in the New Testament to the 
Devil is in the fourth chapter of Matthew. We are 
told that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilder- 
ness to be tempted of the Devil. 

It seems that he was not led by the Devil into the 
wilderness, but by the Spirit ; that the Spirit and the 
Devil were acting together in a kind of pious con- 
spiracy. 

In the wilderness Jesus fasted forty days, and then 
the Devil asked him to turn stones into bread. The 
Devil also took him to Jerusalem and set him on a 



THE DEVIL. 21 

pinnacle of the temple, and tried to induce him to 
leap to the earth. The Devil also took him to the 
top of a mountain and showed him all the kingdoms 
of the world and offered them all to him in exchange 
for his worship. Jesus refused. The Devil went 
away and angels came and ministered to Christ. 

Now, the question is : Did the author of this account 
believe in the existence of the Devil, or did he regard 
this Devil as a personification of evil, and did he 
intend that his account should be understood as an 
allegory, or as a poem, or as a myth. 

Was Jesus tempted ? If he was tempted, who 
tempted him ? Did anybody offer him the kingdoms 
of the world? 

Did the writer of the account try to convey to the 
reader the thought that Christ was tempted by the 
Devil ? 

If Christ was not tempted by the Devil, then the 
temptation was born in his own heart. If that be 
true, can it be said that he was divine? If these 
adders, these vipers, were coiled in his bosom, was 
he the son of God? Was he pure ? 

In the same chapter we are told that Christ healed 



22 THE DEVIL. 

" those which were possessed of devils, and those 
which, were lunatic, and those that had the palsy.' ' 

From this it is evident that a distinction was made 
between those possessed with devils and those whose 
minds were affected and those who were afflicted 
with diseases. 

In the eighth chapter we are told that people brought 
unto Christ many that were possessed with devils, 
and that he cast out the spirits with his word. Now, 
can we say that these people were possessed with per- 
sonifications of evil, and that these personifications 
of evil were cast out? Are these personifications 
entities ? Have they form and shape ? Do they 
occupy space ? 

Then comes the story of the two men possessed 
with devils who came from the tombs, and were ex- 
ceeding fierce. It is said that when they saw Jesus 
they cried out : " What have we to do with thee, Jesus, 
thou Son of God ? Art thou come hither to torment 
us before the time ?" 

If these were simply personifications of evil, how 
did they know that Jesus was the Son of God, and 
how can a personification of evil be tormented ? 



THE DEVIL. 23 



We are told that at the same time, a good way off, 
many swine were feeding, and that the devils be- 
sought Christ, saying: "If thou cast ns out, suffer 
us to go away into the herd of swine." And he said 
unto them: "Go." 

Is it possible that personifications of evil would 
desire to enter the bodies of swine, and is it possible 
that it was necessary for them to have the consent 
of Christ before they could enter the swine ? The 
question naturally arises : How did they enter into the 
body of the man ? Did they do that without Christ's 
consent, and is it a fact that Christ protects swine 
and neglects human beings? Can personifications 
have desires ? 

In the ninth chapter of Mat f hew there was a dumb 
man brought to Jesus, possessed with a devil. Jesus 
cast out the devil and the dumb man spake. 

Did a personification of evil prevent the dumb man 
from talking? Did it in some way paralyze his 
organs of speech? Could it have done this had it 
only been a personification of evil? 

In the tenth chapter Jesus gives his twelve disci- 
ples power to cast out unclean spirits. What were 



24 . THE DEVIL. 

unclean spirits supposed to be? Did they really ex- 
ist? Were they shadows, impersonations, alle- 
gories? 

When Jesus sent his disciples forth on the great 
mission to convert the world, among other things he 
told them to heal the sick, to raise the dead and to cast 
out devils. Here a distinction is made between the 
sick and those who were possessed by evil spirits. 

Now, what did Christ mean by devils ? 

In the twelfth chapter we are told of a very remark- 
able case. There was brought unto Jesus one possessed 
with a devil, blind and dumb, and Jesus healed him. 
The blind and dumb both spake and saw. There- 
upon the Pharisees said: "This fellow doth not cast 
out devils but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils." 

Jesus answered by saying : " Every kingdom 
divided against itself is brought to desolation. If 
Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself." 

Why did not Christ tell the Pharisees that he did 
not cast out devils — only personifications of evil ; and 
that with these personifications Beelzebub had noth- 
ing to do ? 

Another question : Did the Pharisees believe in the 



THE DEVIL. 25 

existence of devils, or had they the personification 
idea? 

At the same time Christ said : " If I cast ont 
devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God 
is come unto you." 

If he meant anything by these words he certainly 
intended to convey the idea that what he did demon- 
strated the superiority of God over the Devil. 

Did Christ believe in the existence of the Devil ? 

In the fifteenth chapter is the account of the 
woman of Canaan who cried unto Jesus, saying: 
" Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. 
My duaghter is sorely vexed with a devil." On ac- 
count of her faith Christ made the daughter whole. 

In the sixteenth chapter a man brought his son to 
Jesus. The boy was a lunatic, sore vexed, often- 
times falling in the fire and water. The disciples 
had tried to cure him and had failed. Jesus rebuked 
the devil, and the devil departed out of him and 
the boy was cured. Was the devil in this case a 
personification of evil ? 

The disciples then asked Jesus why they could not 
cast that devil out. Jesus told them that it was 



26 THE DEVIL. 

because of their unbelief, and then added: " Howbeit 
this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." 
From this it would seem that some personifications 
were easier to expel than others. 

The first chapter of Mark throws a little light on 
the story of the temptation of Christ. Matthew tells 
us that Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wil- 
derness to be tempted of the Devil. In Mark we are 
told who this Spirit was : 

" And straightway coming up out of the water he 
saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove 
descending upon him. 

" And there came a voice from heaven, saying : 
'Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased.* 

" And immediately the Spirit driveth him into 
the wilderness." 

Why the Holy Ghost should hand Christ over to 
the tender mercies of the Devil is not explained. 
And it is all the more wonderful when we remember 
that the Holy Ghost was the third person in the 
Trinity and Christ the second, and that this Holy 
Ghost was, in fact, God, and that Christ also was, in 



THE DEVIL. 27 

fact, God, so that God led God into the wilderness to 
be tempted of the Devil. 

We are told that Christ was in the wilderness 
forty days tempted of Satan, and was with the wild 
beasts, and that the angels ministered nnto him. 

Were these angels real angels, or were they per- 
sonifications of good, of comfort? 

So we see that the same Spirit that came ont of 
heaven, the same Spirit that said "This is my beloved 
son," drove Christ into the wilderness to be tempted 
of Satan. 

Was this Devil a real being? Was this Spirit who 
claimed to be the father of Christ a real being, 
or was he a personification? Are the heavens a 
real place? Are they a personification? Did the 
wild beasts live and did the angels minister nnto 
Christ? In other words, is the story trne, or is it 
poetry, or metaphor, or mistake, or falsehood ? 

It might be asked : Why did God wish to be tempted 
by the Devil? Was God ambitions to obtain a vic- 
tory over Satan ? Was Satan foolish enough to think 
that he could mislead God, and is it possible that the 
Devil offered to give the world as a bribe to its creator 



28 THE DEVIL. 

and owner, knowing at the same time that Christ 
was the creator and owner, and also knowing that 
he (Christ) knew that he (the Devil) knew that he 
(Christ) was the creator and owner? 

Is not the whole story absurdly idiotic ? The Devil 
knew that Christ was God, and knew that Christ 
knew that the tempter was the Devil. 

It may be asked how I know that the Devil knew 
that Christ was God. My answer is found in the 
same chapter. There is an account of what a devil 
said to Christ : 

"Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, 
thou Jesus of Nazareth ? Art thou come to destroy 
us? I know thee. Thou art the holy one of God." 

Certainly, if the little devils knew this, the Devil 
himself must have had like information. Jesus re- 
buked this devil and said to him : " Hold thy peace, 
and come out of him." And when the unclean 
spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he 
came out of him. 

So we are told that Jesus cast out many devils, and 
suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him. 

So it is said in the third chapter that " unclean 



THE DEVIL. 29 

spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and 
cried, saying, ( Thon art the son of God.' " 

In the fifth chapter is an account of casting out the 
devils that went into the swine, and we are told that 
"all the devils besought him saying, 'Send us into 
the swine. , And Jesus gave them leave." 

Again I ask : Was it necessary for the devils to get 
the permission of Christ before they could enter 
swine ? Again I ask : By whose permission did they 
enter into the man ? 

Could personifications of evil enter a herd of swine, 
or could personifications of evil make a bargain with 
Christ? 

In the sixth chapter we are told that the disciples 
" cast out many devils and anointed with oil many 
that were sick." Here again the distinction is made 
between those possessed by devils and those afflicted 
by disease. It will not do to say that the devils were 
diseases or personifications. 

In the seventh chapter a Greek woman whose 
daughter was possessed by a devil besought Christ to 
cast this devil out. At last Christ said : " The devil 
is gone out of thy daughter.' ' 



30 THE DEVIL. 

In the ninth chapter one of the mnltitnde said nnto 
Christ : "I have bronght nnto thee my son which 
hath a dnmb spirit. I spoke nnto thy disciples that 
they shonld cast him out, and they conld not." 

So they bronght this boy before Christ, and when 
the boy saw him, the spirit tare him, and he fell on 
the gronnd and " wallowed, foaming." 

Christ asked the father : " How long is it ago since 
this came nnto him?" And he answered : " Of a 
child, and ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire and 
into the waters to destroy him." 

Then Christ said : " Thon dnmb and deaf spirit, I 
charge thee, come ont of him, and enter no more 
into him." 

"And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came 
ont of him ; and he was as one dead ; insomnch that 
many said, ' He is dead.' " 

Then the disciples asked Jesns why they conld not 
cast them ont, and Jesns said : " This kind can come 
forth by nothing bnt by prayer and fasting." 

Is there any donbt abont the belief of the man who 
wrote this account ? Is there any allegory, or poetry, 
or myth in this story ? The devil, in this case, was 



THE DEVIL. 31 

not an ordinary, every-day devil. He was dnmb and 
deaf ; it was no use to order him out, because he could 
not hear. The only way was to pray and fast. 

Is there such a thing as a dumb and deaf devil ? 
If so, the devils must be organized. They must have 
ears and organs of speech, and they must be dumb 
because there is something the matter with the ap- 
paratus of speaking, and they must be deaf because 
something is the matter with their ears. It would 
seem from this that they are not simply spiritual 
beings, but organized on a physical basis. Now, we 
know that the ears do not hear. It is the brain that 
hears. So these devils must have brains; that is to 
say, they must have been what we call " organized 
beings." 

Now, it is hardly possible that personifications of 
evil are dumb or deaf. That is to say, that they 
have physical imperfections. 

In the same chapter John tells Christ that he saw 
one casting out devils in Christ's name who did not 
follow with them, and Jesus said : " Forbid him not." 

By this he seemed to admit that some one, not a 
follower of his, was casting out devils in his name. 



32 THE DEVIL. 

and he was willing that he should go on, because, as 
he said : " For there is no man which shall do a 
miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me." 

In the fourth chapter of Luke the story of the 
temptation of Christ by the Devil is again told with 
a few additions. All the writers, having been in- 
spired, did not remember exactly the same things. 

Luke tells us that the Devil said unto Christ, hav- 
ing shown him all the kingdoms of the world in a 
moment of time : " All this power will I give thee 
and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, 
and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou wilt 
worship me, all shall be thine." 

We are also told that when the Devil had ended 
all the temptation he departed from him for a season. 
The date of his return is not given. 

In the same chapter we are told that a man in the 
synagogue had a " spirit of an unclean devil." This 
devil recognized Jesus and admitted that he was the 
Holy One of God. 

As a matter of fact, the Apostles seemed to have 
relied upon the evidence of devils to substantiate the 
divinity of their Lord. 



THE DEVIL. 33 

Jesus said to this devil: "Hold thy peace and come 
out of him." And the devil, after throwing the man 
down, came out. 

In the forty-first verse of the same chapter it is 
said : " And devils also came out of many, crying out 
and saying, ' Thou art Christ, the Son of God.' " 

It is also said that Christ rebuked them and suffered 
them not to speak, for they knew that he was Christ. 

Now, it will not do to say that these devils were 
diseases, because diseases could not talk, and diseases 
would not recognize Christ as the Son of God. After 
all, epilepsy is not a theologian. I admit that lunacy 
comes nearer. 

In the eighth chapter is told again the story of the 
devils and the swine. In this account, Jesus asked 
the devil his name, and the devil replied " Legion. " 

In the ninth chapter is told the story of the devil 
that the disciples could not cast out, but was cast out 
by Christ, and in the thirteenth chapter it is said 
that the Pharisees came to Jesus, telling him to go 
away, because Herod would kill him, and Jesus said 
unto these Pharisees; "Go ye, and tell that fox, 
behold, I cast out devils." 



34 THE DEVIL. 

What did lie mean by this ? Did He mean that lie 
cured diseases ? No. Because in the same sentence 
he says, "And I do cures to-day," making a dis- 
tinction between devils and diseases. 

In the twenty-second chapter an account of the 
betrayal of Christ by Judas is given in these words : 

" Then entered Satan into Judas Iscariot, being of 
the number of the twelve." 

" And he went his way and communed with the 
chief priests and captains how he might betray him 
unto them. 

" And they were glad, and covenanted to give him 
money." 

According to Christ the little devils knew that he 
was the Son of God. Certainly, then, Satan, king of 
all the fiends, knew that Christ was divine. And 
he not only knew that, but he knew all about the 
scheme of salvation. He knew that Christ wished 
to make an atonement of blood by the sacrifice of 
himself. 

According to Christian theologians, the Devil has 
always done his utmost to gain possession of the 
souls of men. At the time he entered into Judas, 



THE DEVIL. 35 

persuading him to betray Christ, he knew that if 
Christ was betrayed he would be crucified, and that 
he would make an atonement for all believers, and 
that, as a result, he, the Devil, would lose all the 
souls that Christ gained. 

What interest had the Devil in defeating himself ? 
If he could have prevented the betrayal, then Christ 
would not have been crucified. No atonement would 
have been made, and the whole world would have 
gone to hell. The success of the Devil would have 
been complete. But, according to this story, the 
Devil outwitted himself. 

How thankful we should be to his Satanic Majesty. 
He opened for us the gates of paradise and made it 
possible for us to obtain eternal life. Without Satan, 
without Judas, not a single human being could have 
become an angel of light. All would have been 
wingless devils in the prison of flame. In Jerusalem, 
to the extent of his power, Satan repaired the wreck 
and ruin he had wrought in the Garden of Eden. 

Certainly the writers of the New Testament be- 
lieved in the existence of the Devil. 

In the eighth chapter it is said that out of Mary 



36 THE DEVIL. 

Magdalene were cast seven devils. To me Mary 
Magdalene is the most beautiful character in the New 
Testament. She is the one true disciple. In the 
darkness of the crucifixion she lingered near. She 
was the first at the sepulcher. Defeat, disaster, dis- 
grace, could not conquer her love. And yet, accord- 
ing to the account, when she met the risen Christ, he 
said: "Touch me not." This was the reward of her 
infinite devotion. 

In the Gospel of John we are told that John the 
Baptist said that he saw the Spirit descending from 
heaven like a dove, and that it abode upon Christ. 
But in the Gospel of John nothing is said about the 
Spirit driving Christ into the wilderness to be 
tempted by the Devil. Possibly John never heard of 
that, or forgot it, or did not believe it. But in the 
thirteenth chapter I find this : 

" And supper being ended, the Devil having now 
put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to 
betray him." * * * 

In John there are no accounts of the casting out of 
devils by Christ or his apostles. On that subject 
there is no word. Possibly John had his doubts. 



THE DEVIL. 37 

In the fifth chapter of Acts we are told that the 
people brought the sick and those which were vexed 
with unclean spirits to the apostles, and the apostles 
healed them. Here again there is made a clear dis- 
tinction between the sick and those possessed by 
devils. And in the eighth chapter we are told that 
"unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out 
of them." 

In the thirteen chapter Paul calls Elymas the 
child of the Devil, and in the sixteenth chapter an 
account is given of "a damsel possessed with a spirit 
of divination, who brought her masters much gain by 
soothsaying." 

Paul and Silas, it would seem, cast out this spirit, 
and by reason of that suffered great persecution. 

In the nineteenth chapter certain vagabond Jews 
pronounced over those who had evil spirits the name 
of Jesus, and the evil spirits answered: "Jesus I 
know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?" 

" And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped 
on them so that they fled naked and wounded." 

Paul, writing to the Corinthians, in the eighth 
chapter says : 



38 THE DEVIL. 

" I would not that ye should have fellowship with 
devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the 
cup of devils. Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's 
table and the table of devils. Do we provoke the 
Lord to jealousy?" 

In the eleventh chapter he says that long hair is 
the glory of woman, but that she ought to keep her 
head covered because of the angels. 

In those intellectual days people believed in what 
were called the Incubi and the Succubi. The Incubi 
were male angels and the Succubi were female angels, 
and according to the belief of that time nothing so 
attracted the Incubi as the beautiful hair of women, 
and for this reason Paul said that women should keep 
their heads covered. Paul calls the Devil the " prince 
of the power of the air." 

So in Jude we are told "that Michael, the archangel, 
when contending with the devil he disputed about 
the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a 
railing accusation, but said, ' The Lord rebuke thee.' " 

Was this devil with whom Michael contended a 
personification of evil, or a poem, or a myth? 

In First Peter we are told to be sober, vigilant, 



THE DEVIL. 39 

" because your adversary, the Devil, as a roaring 
lion, walketh about, seeking whom lie may 
devour." 

Are people devoured by personifications or myths ? 
Has an allegory an appetite, or is a poem a 
cannibal ? 

So in Ephesians we are warned not to give place to 
the Devil, and in the same book we are told: "Put on 
the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand 
against the wiles of the Devil." 

And in Hebrews it is said that " him that had the 
power of death — that is, the Devil ; '' showing that the 
Devil has the power of death. 

And in James it is said that if we resist the Devil 
he will flee from us ; and in First John we are told that 
he that committeth sin is of the Devil, for the reason 
that the Devil sinneth from the beginning; and we 
are also told that " for this purpose was the Son of 
God manifested, that he may destroy the works of the 
Devil." 

No Devil — no Christ. 

In Revelations, the insanest of all books, I find the 
following: " And there was war in heaven. Michael 



4Q THE DEVIL. 

and his angels fought against the dragon, and the 
dragon fought and his angels. 

" And prevailed not; neither was their place found 
any more in heaven. 

" And the great dragon was cast out, that old ser- 
pent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth 
the whole world : he was cast out into the earth, and 
his angels were cast out with him. 

" Therefore, rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell 
in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of 
the sea ; for the devil is come down unto you, having 
great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a 
short time." 

From this it would appear that the Devil once 
lived in heaven, raised a rebellion, was defeated and 
cast out, and the inspired writer congratulates the 
angels that they are rid of him and commiserates us 
that we have him. 

In the twentieth chapter of Revelations is the fol- 
lowing : 

" And I saw an angel come down from heaven, 
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great 
chain in his hand. 



THE DEVIL. 41 

" And he laid hold on the dragon — that old serpent, 
which is the Devil and Satan — and bonnd him a 
thousand years. 

" And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him 
up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive 
the nations no more till the thousand years should 
be fulfilled; and after he must be loosed a little 
season." 

It is hard to understand how one could be confined 
in a pit without a bottom, and how a chain of iron 
could hold one in eternal fire, or what use there 
would be to lock a bottomless pit; but these are 
questions probably suggested by the Devil. 

We are further told that u when the thousand 
years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his 
prison." 

" And the Devil was cast into the lake of fire and 
brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, 
and shall be tormented day and night forever." 

In the light of the passages that I have read we 
can clearly see what the writers of the New Testa- 
ment believed. About this there can be no honest 
difference. If the gospels teach the existence of God 



42 THE DEVIL. 

— of Christ — they teach the existence of the Devil. 
If the Devil does not exist — if little devils do not 
enter the bodies of men — the New Testament may- 
be inspired, bnt it is not trne. 

The early Christians proved that Christ was divine 
because he cast out devils. The evidence they 
offered was more absurd than the statement they 
sought to prove. They were like the old man who 
said that he saw a grindstone floating down the river. 
Some one said that a grindstone would not float. 
" Ah," said the old man, " but the one I saw had an 
iron crank in it." 

Of course, I do not blame the authors of the Gospels. 
They lived in a superstitious age, at a time when 
Rumor was the historian, when Gossip corrected the 
" proof/' and when everything was believed except 
the facts. 

The Apostles, like their fellows, believed in miracles 
and magic. Credulity was regarded as a virtue. 

The Rev. Mr. Parkhurst denounces the Apostles 
as worthless cravens. Certainly I do not agree with 
him. I think that they were good men. I do not 
believe that any one of them ever tried to reform 



THE DEVIL. 43 

Jerusalem on trie Parkhurst plan. I admit that they 
honestly believed in devils — that they were credulous 
and superstitious. 

There is one story in the New Testament that illus- 
trates my meaning. 

In the fifth chapter of John is the following : 

" Now, there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep market, 
a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue l Beth- 
esda,' having five porches. 

" In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk 
— of blind, halt, withered — waiting for the moving of 
the water. 

" For an angel went down at a certain season into 
the pool and troubled the water : whosoever then first 
after the troubling of the water stepped in was made 
whole of whatsoever disease he had. 

"And a certain man was there which had an in- 
firmity thirty and eight years. 

" When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had 
been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him : 
' Wilt thou be made whole ? ' 

"The impotent man answered him: 'Sir, I have no 
man when the water is troubled to put me into the 



44 THE DEVIL. 

pool ; but while I am coming another steppeth down 
before me.' 

" Jesus saith unto him: 'Rise, take up thy bed and 
walk.' 

" And immediately the man was made whole and 
took up his bed and walked." 

Does any sensible human being now believe this 
story? Was the water of Bethesda troubled by an 
angel? Where did the angel come from? Where 
do angels live? Did the angel put medicine in the 
water — just enough to cure one? Did he put in 
different medicines for different diseases, or did he 
have a medicine, like those that are patented now, 
that cured all diseases just the same? 

Was the water troubled by an angel? Possibly, 
what apostles and theologians call an angel a scien- 
tist knows as carbonic acid gas. 

John does not say that the people thought the 
water was troubled by an angel, but he states it as a 
fact. And he tells us, also, as a fact, that the first 
invalid that got in the water after it had been troubled 
was cured of what disease he had. 

What is the evidence of John worth ? 



THE DEVIL. 45 

Again I say that if the Devil does not exist the 
Gospels are not inspired. If devils do not exist 
Christ was either honestly mistaken, insane or an 
impostor. 

If devils do not exist the Fall of Man is a mis- 
take and the Atonement an absurdity. If devils do 
not exist hell becomes only a dream of revenge. 

Beneath the structure called " Christianity " are 
four cornerstones — the Father, Son, Holy Ghost 
and Devil. 



46 THE DEVIL. 



IX. 



THE EVIDENCE OF THE CHURCH. 
The Devil was Forced to Father the Failures op God. 

All the fathers of the Church believed in devils. 
All the saints won their crowns by overcoming devils. 
All the popes and cardinals, bishops and priests, be- 
lieved in devils. Most of their time was occupied in 
fighting devils. The whole Catholic world, from the 
lowest layman to the highest priest, believed in 
devils. They proved the existence of devils by the 
New Testament. They knew that these devils were 
citizens of hell. They knew that Satan was their 
king. They knew that hell was made for the Devil 
and his angels. 

The founders of all the Protestant churches — the 
makers of all the orthodox creeds — all the leading 
Protestant theologians, from Luther to the president 
of Princeton College — were, and are, firm believers in 
the Devil. All the great commentators believed in 
the Devil as firmly as they did in God. 



THE DEVIL. 47 

Under the " Scheme of Salvation " the Devil was a 
necessity. Somebody had to be responsible for the 
thorns and thistles, for the cruelties and crimes. 
Somebody had to father the mistakes of God. The 
Devil was the scapegoat of Jehovah. 

For hundreds of years, good, honest, zealous 
Christians contended against the Devil. They 
fought him day and night, and the thought that they 
had beaten him gave to their dying lips the smile of 
victory. 

For centuries the Church taught that the natural 
man was totally depraved ; that he was by nature a 
child of the Devil, and that new-born babes were ten- 
anted by unclean spirits. 

As late as the middle of the sixteenth century, 
every infant that was baptized was, by that ceremony, 
freed from a devil. When the holy water was ap- 
plied the priest said : "I command thee, thou un- 
clean spirit, in the name of the Father, of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost, that thou come out and depart 
from this infant, whom our Lord Jesus Christ has 
vouchsafed to call to his holy baptism, to be made a 
member of his body, and of his holy congregation," 



48 THE DEVIL. 

At that time the fathers — the theologians, the 
commentators — agreed that unbaptized children, in- 
cluding those that were born dead, went to hell. 

And these same fathers — theologians and commen- 
tators — said : " God is love." 

These babes were pure as Pity's tears, innocent 
as their mother's loving smiles, and yet the makers 
of our creeds believed and taught that leering, un- 
clean fiends inhabited their dimpled flesh. O, the 
unsearchable riches of Christianity ! 

For many centuries the church filled the world with 
devils — with malicious spirits that caused storm and 
tempest, disease, accident and death — that filled the 
night with visions of despair ; with prophecies that 
drove the dreamers mad. These devils assumed a 
thousand forms — countless disguises in their efforts to 
capture souls and destroy the Church. They deceived 
sometimes the wisest and the best ; made priests forget 
their vows. They melted virtue's snow in passion's 
fire, and in cunning ways entrapped and smirched the 
innocent and good. These devils gave witches and 
wizards their supernatural powers, and told them 
the secrets of the future. 



THE DEVIL. 49 

Millions of men and women were destroyed because 
they had sold themselves to the Devil. 

At that time Christians really believed the New 
Testament. They knew it was the inspired word of 
God, and so believing, so knowing — as they thought — 
they became insane. 

No man has genius enough to describe the agonies 
that have been inflicted on innocent men and women 
because of this absurd belief. How it darkened the 
mind, hardened the heart, and poisoned life ! It made 
the Universe a madhouse presided over by an insane 
God. 

Think ! Why would a merciful God allow his 
children to be the victims of devils ? Why would a 
decent God allow his worshipers to believe in devils, 
and by reason of that belief to persecute, torture and 
burn their fellow-men ? 

Christians did not ask these questions. They 
believed the Bible ; they had confidence in the words 
of Christ. 



5 o THE DEVIL, 

V. 

PERSONIFICATIONS OF EVIL. 

The Orthodox Ostrich Thrusts His Head into 

the Sand. 

Many of the clergy are now ashamed to say that 
they believe in devils. The belief has become ignor- 
ant and vulgar. They are ashamed of the lake 
of fire and brimstone. It is too savage. 

At the same time they do not wish to give up the 
inspiration of the Bible. They give new meanings 
to the inspired words. Now they say that devils 
were only personifications of evil. 

If the devils were only personifications of evil, 
what were the angels? Was the angel who told 
Joseph who the father of Christ was, a personifica- 
tion ? Was the Holy Ghost only the personification 
of a father? Was the angel who told Joseph that 
Herod was dead a personification of news? 

Were the angels who rolled away the stone and sat 
clothed in shining garments in the empty sepulcher 
of Christ a couple of personifications ? Were all the 



THE DEVIL. 5 i 

angels described in the Old Testament imaginary 
shadows — bodiless personifications ? If the angels of 
the Bible are real angels, the devils are real devils. 

Let ns be honest with onrselves and each other and 
give to the Bible its natural, obvious meaning. Let 
us admit that the writers believed what they wrote. 
If we believe that they were mistaken, let us have the 
honesty and courage to say so. Certainly we have 
no right to change or avoid their meaning, or to dis- 
honestly correct their mistakes. Timid preachers 
sully their own souls when they change what the 
writers of the Bible believed to be facts to allegories, 
parables, poems and myths. 

It is impossible for any man who believes in the 
inspiration of the Bible to explain away the Devil. 

If the Bible is true the Devil exists. There is no 
escape from this. 

If the Devil does not exist the Bible is not true. 
There is no escape from this. 

I admit that the Devil of the Bible is an impossible 
contradiction ; an impossible being. 

This Devil is the enemy of God and God is his. 
Now, why should this Devil, in another world, tor- 



52 



THE DEVIL. 



ment sinners, who are His friends, to please God, his 
enemy ? 

If the Devil is a personification, so is hell and the 
lake of fire and brimstone. All these horrors fade 
into allegories ; into ignorant lies. 

Any clergyman who can read the Bible and then 
say that devils are personifications of evil is himself 
a personification of stupidity or hypocrisy. 



THE DEVIL. 53 



VL 

Does any intelligent man now, whose brain has not 
been deformed by superstition, believe in the exist- 
ence of the Devil ? What evidence have we that he 
exists ? Where does this Devil live ? What does he 
do for a livelihood ? What does he eat ? If he does 
not eat, he cannot think. He cannot think without 
the expenditure of force. He cannot create force ; he 
must borrow it — that is to say, he must eat. How 
does he move from place to place ? Does he walk or 
does he fly, or has he invented some machine? What 
object has he in life ? What idea of success ? This 
Devil, according to the Bible, knows that he is to be 
defeated ; knows that the end is absolute and eternal 
failure ; knows that every step he takes leads to the 
infinite catastrophe. Why does he act as he does ? 

Our fathers thought that everything in this world 
came from some other realm ; that all ideas of right 
and wrong came from above ; that conscience dropped 
from the clouds ; that the darkness was filled with 
imps from perdition, and the day with angels from 



54 THE DEVIL. 

heaven ; that souls had been breathed into man by 
Jehovah. 

What there is in this world that lives and breathes 
was produced here. Life was not imported. Mind is 
not an exotic. Of this planet man is a native. This 
world is his mother. The maker did not descend from 
the heavens. The maker was and is here. Matter 
and force in their countless forms, affinities and 
repulsions produced the living, breathing world. 

How can we account for devils ? Is it possible that 
they creep into the bodies of men and swine ? Do 
they stay in the stomach or brain, in the heart or 
liver ? 

Are these devils immortal or do they multiply and 
die ? Were they all created at the same time or did 
they spring from a single pair? If they are subject 
to death what becomes of them after death ? Do they 
go to some other world, are they annihilated, or can 
they get to heaven by believing on Christ ? 

In the brain of science the devils have never lived. 
There you will find no goblins, ghosts, wraiths or 
imps — no witches, spooks or sorcerers. There the 
supernatural does not exist. No man of sense in 



THE DEVIL. 55 

the whole world believes in devils any more than he 
does in mermaids, vampires, gorgons, hydras, naiads, 
dryads, nymphs, fairies or the anthropophagi — any 
more than he does in the Fonntain of Youth, the 
Philosopher's Stone, Perpetual Motion or Fiat 
Money. 

There is the same difference between religion and 
science that there is between a madhouse and a uni- 
versity — between a fortune teller and a mathema- 
tician — between emotion and philosophy — between 
guess and demonstration. 

The devils have gone, and with them they have 
taken the miracles of Christ. They have carried 
away our Lord. They have taken away the inspira- 
tion of the Bible, and we are left in the darkness of 
nature without the consolation of hell. 

But let me ask the clergy a few questions : 

How did your Devil, who was at one time an angel 
of light, come to sin ? There was no other devil to 
tempt him. He was in perfectly good society — in 
the company of God — of the Trinity. All of his 
associates were perfect. How did he fall ? He knew 
that God was infinite, and yet he waged war against 



56 THE DEVIL. 

him and induced about a third of the angels to vol- 
unteer. He knew that he could not succeed ; knew 
that he would be defeated and cast out ; knew that 
he was fighting for failure. 

Why was God so unpopular? Why were the 
angels so bad ? 

According to the Christians, these angels were 
spirits. They had nevei been corrupted by flesh — 
by the passion of love. Why were they so 
wicked ? 

Why did God create those angels, knowing that 
they would rebel ? Why did he deliberately sow the 
seeds of discord in heaven, knowing that he would 
cast them into the lake of eternal fire — knowing 
that for them he would create the eternal prison, 
whose dungeons would echo forever the sobs and 
shrieks of endless pain ? " 

How foolish is infinite wisdom ! 

How malicious is mercy ! 

How revengeful is boundless love ! 

Again, I say that no sensible man in all the world 
believes in devils. 

Why does God allow these devils to enjoy them- 



THF DEVIL. 57 

selves at the expense of his ignorant children ? 
Why does he allow them to leave their prison ? 
Does he give them furloughs or tickets-of -leave ? 

Does he want his children misled and corrupted so 
that he can have the pleasure of damning their souls? 



58 THE DEVIL. 



VII. 

THE MAN OF STRAW. 

Some of the preachers who have answered me say 
that I am fighting a man of straw. 

I am fighting the supernatural — the dogma of in- 
spiration — the belief in devils — the atonement, salva- 
tion by faith — the forgiveness of sins and the 
savagery of eternal pain. I am fighting the absurd, 
the monstrous, the cruel. 

The ministers pretend that they have advanced — 
that they do not believe the things that I attack. In 
this they are not honest. 

Who is the " man of straw " ? 

The man of straw is their master. In every ortho- 
dox pulpit stands this man of straw — stands beside 
the preacher — stands with a club, called a " creed," in 
his upraised hand. The shadow of this club falls 
athwart the open Bible — falls upon the preacher's 
brain, darkens the light of his reason and compels 
him to betray himself. 



THE DEVIL. 59 

The man of straw rules every sectarian school and 
college — every orthodox church. He is the censor 
who passes on every sermon. Now and then some 
minister puts a little sense in his discourse — tries to 
take a forward step. Down comes the club, and the 
man of straw demands an explanation — a retraction. 
If the minister takes it back — good. If he does not, 
he is brought to book. The man of straw put the 
plaster of silence on the lips of Prof. Briggs, and he 
was forced to leave the Church or remain dumb. 

The man of straw closed the mouth of Prof. Smith, 
and he has not opened it since. 

The man of straw would not allow the Presbyterian 
creed to be changed. 

The man of straw took Father McGlynn by the 
collar, forced him to his knees, made him take back 
his words and ask forgiveness for having been 
abused. 

The man of straw pitched Prof. Swing out of the 
pulpit and drove the Rev. Mr. Thomas from the 
Methodist Church. 

Let me tell the orthodox ministers that they are 
trying to cover their retreat. 



60 THE DEVIL. 

You have given up the geology and astronomy of 
the Bible. You have admitted that its history is 
untrue. You are retreating still. You are giving 
up the dogma of inspiration ; you have your doubts 
about the Flood and Babel ; you have given up the 
witches and wizards; you are beginning to throw 
away the miraculous ; you have killed the little devils, 
and in a little while you will murder the Devil him- 
self. 

In a few years you will take the Bible for what it 
is worth. The good and true will be treasured in the 
heart ; the foolish, the infamous, will be thrown away. 

The man of straw will then be dead. 

Of course, the real old petrified, orthodox Christian 
will cling to the Devil. He expects to have all of 
his sins charged to the Devil, and at the same time 
he will be credited with all the virtues of Christ. 
Upon this showing on the books, upon this balance, 
he will be entitled to his halo and harp. What a 
glorious, what an equitable, transaction ! The sor- 
cerer Superstition changes debt to credit. He waves 
his wand, and he who deserves the tortures of hell 
receives an eternal reward. 



THE DEVIL. 61 

But if a man lacks faith the scheme is exactly 
reversed. While in one case a soul is rewarded for 
the virtues of another, in the other case a soul is 
damned for the sins of another. This is justice 
when it blossoms in mercy. 

Beyond this idiocy cannot go. 



62 THE DEVIL. 

VIII. 

KEEP THE DEVILS OUT OF CHILDREN. 

William Kingdon Clifford, one of the greatest men 
of this centnry, said : "If there is one lesson that 
history forces npon us in every page, it is this : Keep 
your children away from the priest, or he will make 
them the enemies of mankind." 

In every orthodox Sunday-school children are taught 
to believe in devils. Every little brain becomes a 
menagerie, filled with wild beasts from hell. The 
imagination is polluted with the deformed, the mon- 
strous and malicious. To fill the minds of children 
with leering fiends — with mocking devils — is one of 
the meanest and basest of crimes. In these pious 
prisons — these divine dungeons — these Protestant 
and Catholic inquisitions — children are tortured with 
these cruel lies. Here they are taught that to really 
think is wicked ; that to express your honest thought 
is blasphemy ; and that to live a free and joyous 
life, depending on fact instead of faith, is the sin 
against the Holy Ghost. 



THE DEVIL. 63^ 

Children thus taught — thus corrupted and deformed 
— become the enemies of investigation — of progress. 
They are no longer true to themselves. They have 
lost the veracity of the soul. In the language of 
Prof. Clifford, " they are the enemies of the human 
race." 

So I say to all fathers and mothers, keep your 
children away from priests ; away from orthodox 
Sunday-schools ; away from the slaves of superstition. 

They will teach them to believe in the Devil ; in 
hell ; in the prison of God ; in the eternal dungeon, 
where the souls of men are to suffer forever. These 
frightful things are a part of Christianity. Take 
these lies from the creed and the whole scheme falls 
into shapeless ruin. This dogma of hell is the in- 
finite of savagery — the dream of insane revenge. It 
makes God a wild beast — an infinite hyena. It 
makes Christ as merciless as the fangs of a viper. 
Save poor children from the pollution of this horror. 
Protect them from this infinite lie. 



64 THE DEVIL. 

IX. 

Conclusion. 

I admit that there are many good and beautiful 
passages in the Old and New Testament ; that from 
the lips of Christ dropped many pearls of kindness — 
of love. Every verse that is true and tender I treasure 
in my heart. Every thought, behind which is the 
tear of pity, I appreciate and love. But I cannot 
accept it all. Many utterances attributed to Christ 
shock my brain and heart. They are absurd and 
cruel. 

Take from the New Testament the infinite sav- 
agery, the shoreless malevolence of eternal pain, the 
absurdity of salvation by faith, the ignorant belief in 
the existence of devils, the immorality and cruelty of 
the Atonement, the doctrine of non-resistance that 
denies to virtue the right of self-defense, and how 
glorious it would be to know that the remainder is 
true ! Compared with this knowledge, how everything 
else in nature would shrink and shrivel! What 
ecstacy it would be to know that God exists ; that he 



THE DEVIL. 65 

is our father and that lie loves and cares for the 
children of men ! To know that all the paths that 
human beings travel, turn and wind as they may, 
lead to the gates of stainless peace ! How the heart 
would thrill and throb to know that Christ was 
the conqueror of Death ; that at his grave the 
all-devouring monster was baffled and beaten for- 
ever ; that from that moment the tomb became 
the door that opens on eternal life ! To know this 
would change all sorrow into gladness. Poverty, 
failure, disaster, defeat, power, place and wealth 
would become meaningless sounds. To take your 
babe upon your knee and say : "Mine and mine for- 
ever ! " What joy ! To clasp the woman you love in 
your arms and to know that she is yours and for- 
ever — yours though suns darken and constellations 
vanish ! This is enough : To know that the loved 
and dead are not lost ; that they still live and love 
and wait for you. To know that Christ dispelled the 
darkness of death and filled the grave with eternal 
light. To know this would be all that the heart 
could bear. Beyond this joy cannot go. Beyond this 
there is no place for hope. 



66 THE DEVIL. 

How beautiful, how enchanting, Death would be ! 
How we would long to see his fleshless skull ! What 
rays of glory would stream from his sightless sockets, 
and how the heart would long for the touch of his 
stilling hand ! The shroud would become a robe of 
glory, the funeral procession a harvest home, and 
the grave would mark the end of sorrow, the be- 
ginning of eternal joy. 

And yet it were better far that all this should be 
false than that all of the New Testament should be 
true. 

It is far better to have no heaven than to have 
heaven and hell ; better to have no God than God 
and Devil ; better to rest in eternal sleep than to be 
an angel and know that the o>ies you love are suffer- 
ing eternal pain ; better to live a free and loving life — 
a life that ends forever at the grave — than to be an 
immortal slave. 



^ 




/wX£i 



THESE WORKS ARE NOT FOR A DAY, BUT FOR ALL TIME. 



The Library of Liberal Classics, says a competent critic 

" contains much that is imperishable in literature, because, in common with 
the higher thoughts attributed to Confucius, to Buddha, to Marcus Aurelius 
to Spinoza and to Shakespeare, these Classics have an intrinsic excellence of 
their own. They are good for all time and for all civilizations capable of un- 
derstanding them,— they appeal to all that is noblest and truest in humanity." 
" There is no sleep so profound as the sleep of a dead book," says The Con- 
servator. But books of sterling merit never die. They are always in demand 
and they become known as " Classics" in literature. ' 

The books comprised in the Library of Liberal Classics are books of 
this description. They have stood the test of time, and have not been found 
wanting. Y~ears have elapsed since they were written, and in the coming centuries 
they will still survive. Like truth, they are indeed immortal ! They were no* 
born to die. They are "Not for a day, but for all time,"— and no library can be 
complete without them. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN? The True Story of a Great Life. 
Illustrated. By W. H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik. 2 vols. Cloth, $3.00 

A Few Days In Athens. By Frances Wright. New Edition. 
Everybody who knows the value of this book will read it. One of the 
masterpieces of Freethought Cloth, 75 cts. 

Age OI KeaSOfl. Being an investigation of True and Fabulous Theol- 
ogy. A new and unabridged edition. For nearly one hundred years the 
clergy have been vainly trying to answer this book Paper 25c; cloth 50c. 

ApOCryphal Ne\V Testament, Being all the Gospels, Epistles, 
and other pieces now extant, attributed in the first four centuries to Jesus 
Christ, his Apostles, and their companions, and not included in the New 
Testament by its compilers , Cloth, $1.50 

Astral Worship. By J. H. Hill, M.D. This book will be found to 
be a valuable contribution to the current discussion of religious problems. 
Proceeding on lines parallel to those followed by Robert Taylor in his Astro- 
Theological Lectures, the author by the aid of numerous illustrations and an 
elaborate planisphere, traces most of the myths which lie at the base of 
Christianity to their origin in sun and star worship, or to the natural phe- 
nomena which played so important a part in those systems. The astronom- 
ical facts given possess great value aside from their relation to Christian 
mythology. The illustrations are rare and curious, and the planisphere (a 
representation of the celestial sphere upon a plane with adjustable circles) 
will interest the most careless. Owing to the construction of its covers, to 
which the planisphere is attached, the book is bound in one style only — 
heavy boards. Price, $1.00. 

AstrO-TheolOgical LectUreS. Allegorical Meaning of the Bible. 
Belief not the Safe Side; The Resurrection of Lazarus; The Unjust Stew- 
ard ; The Devil ; The Rich Man and Lazarus ; The Day of Temptation in the 
Wilderness ; Ahab, or the Lying Spirit ; The Fall of Man ; Noah ; Abraham • 
Sarah ; Melchisedec ; The Lord ; Moses, The Twelve Patriarchs ; Who is the' 
Lord ? Exodus ; Aaron ; Miriam. By Rev. Robt. Taylor Cloth, $1.50 



2 Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 

AbOllt the Holy Bible. By Robert G. Ingersoll. A new Lecture 
recently delivered, A large and handsome pamphlet 25 cts. 

BACON'S Christian Paradoxes, or the characters of a 
Believing Christian in Paradoxes and Seeming Contradictions. WithPor- 
trait. Preface by Peter Eckler Paper. 10 cts. 

— ■ — Bacon's Essays, 530pp. crownsvo.,, .cioth, $i. so 

Library edition Cloth gilt, $2.00 

Btschner's Force and Matter, or principles of the natu- 
ral Order of the Universe. With a system of Morality based thereon. 
A scientific work of great ability and merit. Post 8vo, 414 pp., with Portrait, 
Cloth $1.00 

— — Man in the Fast, Present, and Future, it de- 
scribes Man as " a being not put upon the earth accidentally by an arbi- 
trary act, but produced In harmony with the earth's nature, and belonging 
to it as do the flowers and fruits to the tree which bears them. "....Cloth, $1.00 

Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions, 

Being a comparison of the Old and New Testament Myths and Miracles with 

those of Heathen Nations of Antiquity. Large 8vo, 614 pp Cloth $2.50, 

half morocco $5.00 

Prof. Max Muller says—" All truth is safe, and nothing else is safe ; and he who keeps back 
the truth, or withholds it from men, from motives of expediency, is either a coward or a 
criminal, or both* He who knows only one religion, knows none." 
Rev. M. J. Savage, (Boston.) says — " To me. the volume is worth twenty times its cost." 
" The author of ' Bible Myths ? has succeeded in showing that our bible is not the great 
central fire, giving light to the world, but a collection of candles and tapers and sparks bor- 
rowed by the ' chosen people ' from those whom Jehovah, according to" the Scriptures, had 
left in the darkness of nature."— R. G. Ingebsoll. 

Bulwer's History of a False Religion & Brougham's 

ORIGIN OP EVIL. Preface by Peter Eckler Paper, 25 cts. ; cloth, 50 cts. 

CANDLE from under the Bushel (The), By wiiiiam 
Hart. Thirteen Hundred and Six Questions to the Clergy, and for the con- 
sideration of Others. Mr. Hart, the author, while a sincere church-member, 
obeyed the injunction to search the scriptures, which led' to the propounding 
of these queries, which no clergyman can answer rationally and remain a 
Christian. 200 pp. i2mo ' Paper, 40 cts. 

Christian Absurdities, John Peck. Pointing out the things which 
the world calls absurd, but which the church once made Christian dogmas, 
and which some Christians still believe. One of the sharpest criticisms of 
current theology in print. 80 pp. i2mo Paper, 20 cts. 

Cobbett's, (Wm.) English Grammar. Edited by Robert 

Waters. 1 vol., i2mo Cloth, $1.00 

" Of all the books on English grammar that I have met with, Cobbett's seems to me the 
test, and, indeed, the only one to be used with advantage in teaching English. His style is a 
model of correctness, of ^ earn ess, and of strength. He wrote English with unconscious 
ease."— Richard Grant White. 

." The best English grammar extant for self-instruction.-"— School Board Chronicle. 
"As interesting as a story-book."— Eazlitt. 

" The only amusing grammar in the world." — Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer. 
"Written with vigor, energy, and courage, joined to s force of understanding, a degree of 
logical power, and force of expression which has rarely been equalled."— Saturday Bevieu: 

Conventional Lies of our Civilization. Religious, Mon- 
archical anc Aristocratic, Political, Economic, Matrimonial and Miscella- 
neous Lies, aj Max Nordau. Cheap edition 50 cts. 

Complete Description of Thomas Paine's Works in Alpha- 

phabetical Order. 






Catalogue oj Liberal Classics. 



C/OmmOn SenSC A Revolutionary pamphlet addressed to the inhab- 
itants of America in 1776, with an explanatory notice by an English author. 
Paine's first and most important political work Paper, 15 cts 

Comte (Auguste), The Positive Philosophy of. Trans- 
lated by Harriet Martineau. With portrait and fac-simile of Autograph. 
One volume, royal 8vo, 838 pp. gilt top and side stamp Cloth, $4.00 

l - A work of profound science, and conspicuous for the highest attributes of intellectual 
power." — Sir David Brewster. 

" Comte i3 the Bacon of the nineteenth century. Like Bacon he fully sees the cause of our 
intellectual anarchy, and also sees tbe cure. We have no hesitation in recoiuing our con- 
viction that the Pcsiiive Philosophy is the greatest work of our century." — Lewes's Biograph~ 
ical Bistory of Philosophy. 

"A work which I hold to be far the greatest yet produced in the Philosophy of the 
. sciences."— Mill's System of Logic. 

Creed Of Christendom, By W. R. Greg. It? Foundation con- 

trasted with its Superstructure. Complete m 1 vol., nmo, 399 pp $7.50 

4< No Candid reader of the 'Creed of Christendom' can close the book with- 
out the secret acknowledgment that it is a model of honest investigation and 
clear exposition; that it is conceived in the true spirit of serious and faithful 
research ; and that whatever the author wants of being an ecclesiastical Chris- 
tian, is plainly not essential to the noble guidance of life, and the devout ear- 
nestness of the affections." — Westminster Review. 

CfisiSo 16 numbers. Written during the darkest hours of the American 
Revolution "in the the times that tried men's souls." By Thomas Paine. 
Paper, 25 cts , ~ cloth 50 cts. 

Commentaries on Hebrew and Christian Mythol- 

OGY. By Judge Parish B. Ladd, LL.B., of the San Francisco Bar. This 
work is the result of six years close study of the two mythologies of Judaism 
and Christianity. The author finds that the chief ingredients of the Chris- 
tian religion are fraud on the part of the early fathers and ignorance on the 
part of the people who accept it. The author begins with the origin of 
divinities or gods, and traces the evolution of the Christian deity, Jehovah. 
Then he takes up the priesthood and shows us how we came by our parsons. 
Much space is devoted to the Hebrews and their prophets, some of the latter 
being proved to be myths. The early Hebrew legends are rehearsed and 
compared with their counterparts in other religions. Through the tangle of 
comparative mythology the reader is brought to the time of Christ and the 
other "crucified saviors." Then we have the apostles, the early Christians, 
the church fathers, the ecumenical councils, and the other characters, writ- 
ings, and proceedings that gave Christianity to the world, upon all of which 
is placed the stamp of error or deliberate fraud. Paper, 75c. ; silk cloth, $1.50 

D s HoIbach (Baron.) Letters to Eugenia against 

RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE Cloth, $1.00 

~~~ Good Sense. Natural vs. Supernatural . . . , $1.00 

The System Of Nature; or, La ws of the Moral and Physical 

World, By Baron D'Holbach. " One of the greatest books ever written. 
It never was and never will be answered." — R. G. Ingersoll $2.00 

Data Of EthlCS. By Herbert Spencer $1.25 

Descent Of Man (The.) By Charles Darwin Cloth, gilt top, 75 c. 

On its appearance it aroused at once a storm of mingled wrath, wonder and admiration. 
In elegance of style, charm of manner and deep knowledge of natural history, it stands 
almost without a rival among scientific works, 

Dickens* Sunday Under Three Heads, as it is; as sab- 
bath bills would make it ; and as it might be made. By Charles Dickens. 
Illustrated by Phiz. Portrait. Preface by Peter Eckler... Paper 25 c. ; cloth, 50c. 

Give us Mental Liberty and Intellectual Freedom rather 
than Blind Faith in Obsolete Dogmas. j 



^ Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 

DevIl'S Pu!pit (The.) Astro-Theological Sermons. With a sketch of 




St. John, the Sons of Thunder, the Crucifixion of Christ, the Cup of Salva- 
tion, Lectures on Free Masonry, the Holy Ghost, St. Philip, St. Matthew, The 
Redeemer. By Rev. Robt. Taylor ..Cloth, $1.50 

DiegesiS (The.) Being a Discovery of the Origin, Evidences, and< early 
ot, rv of Christianity, never vet before or elsewhere so fully and faithfully 
SrTBySS^Taylor. This work was written by Mr. Taylor 
while serving a term in Oakham jail, England -where he was imprisoned 
for blasphemy. It contains 440 pages, octavo, and is considered unanswera- 
ble as to arguments or facts ......^loxn, $2.00 

DUDUlS (C. F.) Origin of all Religious Worship. (Synopsis of the 
Great Work), with Zodiac of Denderah. 8vo, 443 PP _• • • $ 2 -°° 

Dynamic Theory of Life and Mind. An attempt to show 

that all Organic Beings are both Constructed and Operated by the Dynamic 
Agencies of their respective Environments. By James B. Alexander. Over 
400 illustrations, 87 chapters, 1,067 P a ges> and a 3-column index of 11 pages. 
This work endeavors to embrace the field covered by thousands of books, such 
as those of the " Humboldt Library of Science,"the " International Scientific 
Series," etc., by bringing together, in simple and direct form, with proper 
correspondence between them, all cf the known factors contributing toward 
the origin and evolution of organic beings. Do you wish to be well in- 
formed ? Then read a chapter or verse daily from this Bible of Science i 
It is entertaining as well as enlightening Cloth, $2.75 

English Grammar. Cobbett's, (Wm.) Edited by Robert Waters. 
1 vol., i2mo Cloth, $1.00 

" Of all the books on English grammar -hat I have met with, Cobbett's seems to me the 
best, and, indeed, the only one to be used with advantage in teaching Enplish. His style is a 
model of correctness, of clearness, and of strength. He wrote English with unconscious 
ease."— Richard Grant White. 

" The best English grammar extant for self-instruction."— School Board Chronicle. 

"As interesting as a story-book."— Hazlitt. 

" The only amusing grammar in the world."— Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer.^ 

" Written with vigor, energy and courage, joined to a force of understanding, a degree of 
logical power, and force of expression which has rarely been equalled."— Saturday Review. 

Evolution Of the Devil. By Henry Frank, the independent preach- 
er of New York city. The most learned, accurate, scientific and philosophi- 
cal analysis of His Satanic Majesty ever published. The book contains 66 
pages, is beautifully bound, with likeness of author on title page 25 cts. 

FAITH and Reason. Account of the Christian and all Prominent 
Religions Before and Since Christ. Ext. from Sacred Books of the East. 
H. R. Stevens $1.50 

Fawcett's Agnosticism, and other essays, with a Pro- 
logue by Robert G. IngersolL One volume, i2mo, 277 pp Cloth, 75 cts. 

"Between the Christian and the Agnostic there is the difference of assertion and question 
— between " There is a God " and "Is there a God?" The Agnostic has the arrogance to 
admit his ignorance, while the Christian from the depths of humility impudently insists 
that he knows. 

" A few centuries ago the priests said to their followers : The other world is above you; 
it is just beyond where you see. Afterwards the astronomer with his telescope looked 
and asked the priests : Where is the world of which you speak? And the priests replied: 
It has receded — it is just beyond where you see. 

'• As long as there is " a beyond " there is room for the priests' world. Theology is the 
geography of this beyond."— Extract from Ingersoll's Prologue to the above work. 

Trust the Demonstrations of Science, reject the Revelations 

of Ignorance. 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. j 

Faith Or Fact© &/ Henry M. Taber. With Preface by Col. Robert 
G. Ingersoll. Crown 8vo, vellum cloth, gilt top, 347 pages. Price, $1. 00 

The author of Faith or Fact has drawn a life-like picture of modern Christianity ; 
and has shown from the admissions of Christian writers, and from the testimony of 
Christian ministers, what are the real aims, desires, and tendencies of the Chris- 
tian church. His work which is indeed an arsenal of Facts, is a most effective an- 
tidote to unreasoning Faith. It richly deserves the support of all intelligent 
liberals, and should be in the hands of every honest inquirer. 

" I have read this book with great pleasure," says Eobert G. Ingersoll, " because 
it is full of good sense, of accurate statement, of sound logic, of exalted thoughts 
happily expressed, and for the further reason that it is against tyranny, supersti- 
tion, bigotry, and every form of injustice, and in favor of every virtue." 

" There are some books " says Elmina Drake Slenker in Free Thought Magazine, 
November, 1897, " that are beyond simple praise, or mere words of commenda- 
tion, and among them is Faith or Fact. It contains the sum and substance 
of a large library of useful, entertaining, and instructive information. It is all so 
systematically and well arranged that it answers for an encyclopedia of facts con- 
cerning the old Christian mythology, and the evils, errors, miseries and mischiefs 
that have grown, and are still growing, out of it. Impartial, candid, fair and 
honest in its statements, it appeals alike to Christian, Heathen, and Infidel. It is 
not the voice of one man giving us his theories, opinions and experiences, but the 
carefully collected .utterances of the best thinkers of the world. Every page is 
pregnant with investigation, thought and study. The dispassionate investigator, 
after studying this volume, feels an intense desire that everybody should read the 
book and be induced to abandon the creeds and superstitions of childhood. 

" It seems almost incredible that any one can read the article on " Eternal Pun- 
ishment " and thereafter believe in an orthodox hell. On this subject the author 
says : ' Of all the teachings of the Christian religion this is the most preposterous 
and monstrous.' The writer gives nearly sixteen pages of quotations from noted 
authors end speakers on this horrible doctrine. 

"The articles on 'Prayer,' ' I mm ortality,' ' Intolerance,' etc.. etc., are each and 
all most valuable productions. One would imagine a single reading of this beauti- 
ful volume would suffice to destroy all the orthodox theology any intelligent, rea- 
sonable person might entertain. I wish one hundred thousand copies of this book 
could be sold, for, as Col. Ingersoll says : ->[_ 

" This book will do great good. It will furnish arguments and facts against the 
supernatural and absurd. It will drive phantoms from the brain, fear from the 
heart, and many who read these pages will be emancipated, enlightened and 
ennobled." 

" Faith or Fact, by Henry M. Taber, contains much that is valuable and interest- 
ing ; it is pervaded by a robust independence of thought, and sanctified by an 
enlightened common sense. After all, the majority of people have not the slight- 
est conception of what an appalling misfortune to the human race dogmatic 
Christianity has been in the past, and would be again if the world were content to 
relapse into intellectual slavery. Vigorous language on this subject is not only ex^ 
cusable, but necessary. 

" We may add that the Preface by Col. Ingersoll is unusually lengthy— which will, 
in this instance, be an additional attraction to English readers— and that the 
Colonel, generous as he always is, very warmly commends the volume, as being cal- 
culated to materially assist the Rationalist evangel."— The Literary Guide, Lon- 
don, Eng. 

" Faith or Fact, by Henry M. Taber. We have read the volume with much pleas- 
ure and profit ; for the articles are written in a strong and easy style, and are of 
the highest quality. Fact kills Faith ; and this collection is one of facts and argu- 
ments based on them, and not on assumed and unprovable premises."— Malcom 
Dean in Boston Investigator. 

" Faith or Fact, a new book by Henry M. Taber, is a great work. It is a com- 
pendium of facts, and facts are indeed stubborn things. The author has shown 
real skill, as well as wonderful research and study, in the arrangement of these 
facts, against which and in whose presence the old faiths shrink and shrivel into 
dry, crumbling husks. From the splendid preface by Colonel Ingersoll to the last 
page of the book, there is not a dull or uninteresting sentence."— Susan H. Wixon. 

" Faith or Fact, by Henry M. Taber. Mr. Taber is very much in earnest, but 
while he occasionally indulges in scathing denunciation of Christianity, such as 
speaking of the Bible as "Christianity's untruthful and immoral textbook," he 
never descends to ridicule of any sort. He seems to be a seeker after truth and 
wishes to find something that will take the place of Christianity, but (to give his 
idea) which will be founded on scientific principles rather than the outcome of mere 
superstition. 

" Mr. Taber is a free thinker and we cannot but admire the fearlessness with 
which he attacks every evil and the logical manner in which he discusses the ques- 
tion of the substitution of scientific principles for the dogmas of the Christian re* 
lhrion." — Free Press. Detroit. Mich. 



6 Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 

Force and Matter; or, principles of the natural 

ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE, with a System of Morality based thereon. 
By Prof. Ludwig Buchner, M.D. A scientific and rationalistic work of great 
merit and ability. Translated from the 15th German Edition, revised and 
enlarged by the author, and reprinted from the fourth English edition. One 
vol., Crown 8vo, 414 pp., with portrait. Vellum cloth, $1.00 ; half calf,$2,oo. 
"Biichner's volume is so powerful an exposition of the thoroughgoing scienti- 
fic theory of the universe that it may be confidently recommended to all who 
wish to become acquainted with present-day Materialism. Theearlier chapters, 
dealing with the nature and indestructibility of force and matter, are suffi- 
ciently cogent to arouse curiosity, while the factsadduced to prove the infinity of 
matter are so bewildering as to render greater than ever the difficulty of hold- 
ing any theistic hypothesis. The unbiassed reader will sympathize with Biich- 
ner's protest against the degrading conceptions of matter which are so common, 
as well as against the inveterate habit of implying a severance which does not 
exist between matter and force, nature and spirit, body and soul. Natural laws 
are everywhere the same, the properties of matter are every where alike ; no- 
where do we find evidence of outside government or intervention. After 
treating of the successive periods of the generation of the earth and the develop- 
ment of life, Buchner gives us a highly interesting chapter on teleology, in which 
the fitness of things in nature is explained from the point of view of science, 
while the latter half of the book is occupied with an examination of man ; the 
various phenomenaof mind, consciousness, and soul, and the probabilities of their 
continued existence after death, being analyzed in a very able and trenchant 
manner. The final chapter, on morality, treats the problem of human relations 
on the evolutionary lines which Mr. Spencer has rendered familiar."— The 
Literary Guide. London. 

Father Tom and the Pope; or, a Night at the Vatican. 

Written probably by Sir Samuel Ferguson. From Blackwood's Edingburgh 
Magazine. This is a humorous account of a rolicksome visit to the Pope of 
Rome by Father Tom, an Irish priest, armed with a super-abundance of Irish 
wit, two imperial quart bottles of Irish " putteen," and an Irish recipe 
"for conwhounding the same. "What's that?" says the Pope. "Put 
in the sperits first," says his Riv'rence ; "and then put in the sugar; and 
remember, every dhrop of wather you put in after that, spoils the punch." 
" Glory be to God ! " says the Pope, not minding a word Father Tom was 
saying. " Glory be to God !" says he, smacking his lips. " I never knewn 
what dhrink was afore," says he. " It bates the Lachymalchrystal out ov 
the face ! " says he—" it's Necthar itself, it is, so it is 1 " says he, wiping his 
epistolical mouth wid the cuff ov his coat Paper, 25 cts.; cloth, 50 cts. 

Four Hundred Years of Freethought, BySamueip. 

Putnam. The Most Magnificent Work Ever Published by the Freethought 
Press. The object of this work is to present the Course of Freethought 
throughout the Civilized World for the last Four Centuries, from the time 
of Columbus and Bruno to the time of Ingersoll. It is a radical Historic 
Record of the Greatest Developments of the Human Race. It reveals Free- 
thought as an Intellectual, Moral, Literary, Social, Industrial and Political 
Movement. It shows what Freethought is in itself and how manifold are its 
influences, and with what hope and promise we can hail its future triumph. 
Four Hundred Years 0/ Freethought embraces the most Illustrious Pages 
of Human History, adorned with the brightest Genius, radiant with the most 
splendid Poetry, rich with the greatest Inventions and Discoveries, and en- 
nobled with Freedom's most shining advance. Nothing can be more inter- 
esting, more inspiring to the Pioneer Workers of to-day — to those who are 
still in the van for Human Rights and Progress. The struggle is not ended 
and what is already won must be carefully guarded. Eternal vigilance is the 
price of liberty ; and from the Past we must ever learn Great Lessons for the 
Future. Only one style of binding— the best $5.00 

GARDENER (HELEN H.) Men, Women, and 
GODS 00 Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $i.co 

Ghosts, Devils, Angels and Sun Gods» Asenesofer-says 

against Superstition. By &■ C. Kenney Paper, 25 cts. 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics, 7 

GhOStS and Other Lectures S Liberty of Man, Woman and 
Child ; Declaration of Independence ; Farming in Illinois ; Grant Banquet ; 
Rev. Alex. Clark ; etc. By R. G. Ingersoll Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.25 

GodS and Other Lectures: Humboldt; Thomas Paine; Indi- 
viduality ; " Heretics and Heresies." By R. G. Ingersoll Paper, 50 cts. 

Cloth .* 1 . $1.00 

Gibbon's History of Christianity, with Preface, Life of 

Gibbon, and Notes by Peter Eckler ; also variorum Notes by Guizot, Wenck, 
Millman, etc. Portrait of Gibbon and many engravings of mythological 
divinities. Crown 8vo, 864 pp Cloth, $2.00; ha 1 " calf, $4.00 

Great IngerSOlI Controversy. Containing an eloquent Christ- 
mas Sermon by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, and various protests by eminent 
Christian divines. 213 pp Paper, 25 cts. 

GoOdlOC'S Birth Of the RepUbSlC. Compiled from the Na- 
tional and Colonial Histories and Historical Collections, from the American 
Archives, from Memoirs and from the Journals and Proceedings of the 
British Parliament. Containing the Resolutions, Declarations and Ad- 
dresses adopted by the Continental Congress, the Provincial Congresses, 
Conventions and Assemblies, of the County and Town Meetings, and the 
Committees of Safety, in all the Colonies, from the year 1765 to 1776, to 
which is added the Articles of Confederation, a history of the formation and 
adoption of the Constitution, the election of President Washington, his In- 
auguration, April 30, 1789, a copy of the Constitution, and Washington's 
Inaugural Speech. 12010, 400 pp Cloth, $1.00 

HAECKEL (ERNST.) The History of Creation; 
or, the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by th^ Action of 
Natural Causes. A Popular Exposition of the Doctrine of Evolution in gen- 
eral, and of that of Darwin, Goethe and Lamarck in particular. The 
translation revised by Prof. E. Ray Lankester. Illustrated with Litho- 
graphic Plates, In 2 vols., i2mo. Revised 1892.. Cloth, $5.00 

The Evolution Of Man. A Popular Exposition of the 

Principal Points of Human Ontogeny and Phytogeny. 2 vols. i2mo. Cloth $5, 

Freedom in Science and Teaching. From the Ger- 



man. With a Prefatory Note by T. H. Huxley, xzxno Cloth, $1.75 

HaeckeKErnest.) Visit to Ceylon, with Portrait, and Map 

of India and Ceylon. "These letters constitute one of the most charming 
books of travel ever published, quite worthy of being placed by the side of 
Darwin's '■Voyage of the Beagle," " Post 8vo, 348 pp Cloth, $1.00 

Half Hours with some Celebrated Freethinkers* 

Thomas Hobbs, Lord Bohnbroke, Condorcet, Spinoza, Anthony Collins, 
Des Cartes, M. de Voltaire, John Toland, Comte de Volney, Charles Blount, 
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Helvetius, Frances Wright, Zeno, Epicurus, Matthew 
Tindal, David Hume, Dr. Thomas Burnet, Thomas Paine, Baptiste de 
Mirabaud, Baron de Holbach, Robert Taylor, Joseph Barker. By "Icono- 
clast," Collins, and Watts Cloth, 75 cts 

Hebrew Mythology (Science of the Bible). Showing that the Bible 
treats of Natural Phenomena (Astronomical) Only. By Milton Woolley, 
M.D. 8vo Cloth, $2.50 

History of the First Council of Nice: A world's christian 

Convention, A. D., 325, with a life of Constantine. By Dean Dudley. 
Frice • Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00 

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- 

PIRE. Gibbon. Five vols. Cloth, $4.00 

This Library is the Pride of every Thinker. 



8 Catalogue of Libera! Classics. 

History Of Christianity. Comprising all that relates to the Christian 
religion in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire^ and, 
also, a Vindication (never before published in this country) of "some pas- 
sages in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters," by Edward Gibbon, Esq. 
With a Preface, Life of the Author, and Notes by Peter Eckler; also, 
Variorum Notes by Guizot, Wenck, Miiiman, "An English Churchman," 
and other scholars. "This important work contains Gibbon's complete 
Theological writings, separate from his historical and miscellaneous works, 
showing when, where andhozu Christianity originated ; who were its founders; 
and what were the sentiments, character, manners, numbers and condition of 
the primitive Christians." i vol., post 8vo, 864 pages, with Portrait of Gibbon 
and numerous Engravings of mythological divinities. 864 pp. , crown 8vo. 
Ex. vellum cloth, $2.60 Half calf, $3.00 

History of the Christian Religion. By judge c. b. Wafte. 

A very learned and valuable historical acquisition to the Liberal literature of 
the day, containing 450 large octavo pages Cloth, $2.25 

HiggillS' Horae Safofoatieae % Or an Attempt to Correct Cer- 
tain Superstitious and Vulgar Errors Respecting the Sabbath. Preface by 
Peter Eckler. Crown 8vo Paper 25 cts. ; Cloth 50 cts. 

History of a False Religion (Bulwer), & Origin of 

EVIL (BROUGHAM). Preface by Peter Eckler. . .Paper, 25 c; cloth, 50 c. 
Hypatia. By Charles Kingsley Cloth, $1.00 

Htime'S Essays. Including the Libertv of the Press; The Natural 
History of Religion ; Of Miracles ; Of a Particular Providence; Ot a Future 
State ; Of Superstition and Enthusiasm, etc., 589 pp., with index Cloth. §1.50 

HUSO'S Oration On Voltaire. Delivered at Paris, May 30, 1878. 
the one hundredth anniversary of Voltaire's Death. Translated Dy James 
Parton, author of the Life of Voltaire Paper, 10 cts. 

INGERSOLL (ROB'T G.) Gods & other Lectures. 

Comprising the Gods, Humboldt, Thomas Paine, Individuality, Heretics and 
Heresies • Paper, 50c,; cloth, §1.00 



— Ghosts and other Lectures., including The Ghosts, Lib- 
ertv of Man, Woman, and Child : The Declaration of Independence, About 
Farming in Illinois. Sneech nominating James G. Elaine for Presidency in 
1876 The Grant Banquet, A Tribute to Rev. Alex. Clark. The Past Rises before 
Me Likea Dream, and A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll.... Paper, 50c; cloth, $1.00 

Some Mistakes of Moses. 2to pp Paper, soc.; cioth, fi.oo 



Interviews On Tafmage. Being Six Interviews with the 

Famous Orator on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage of Brooklyn. 
to which is added a Talmagian Catechism raper, 50c.; cloth, f 1.00 

- Thomas Faine's Vindication, a Reply to the New York 

Observer's Attack upon the Author-hero of the Revolution, by R. G. Ingersoll. 
Paper : i5cts - 

Limitations Of Toleration. A Discussion between Col. 

Robert G Ingersoll, Hon. Frederick B. Coudert, and Ex-Governor Stewart L. 
Woodford Paper, 10 cents. 

Blasphemy. Argument byR. G. Ingersoll in the Trial of C. B. 

Reynolds, at Morristown, N. J Paper, 25c; cloth, 50c 

Lecture on Abraham Lincoln, just out. with a 



handsome, new portrait Paper, 25 cents 

. Voltaire • A Lecture. By Robert G. Ingersoll, with a Portrait of 

the great French Philosopher and Poet, never before published. .Paper, 25 c. 

The Library of Liberal Classics contains the Best Books 

of the 20th Century. 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. y 

Volume 1. Engersolrs Lectures. New edition. Only 

authorized. Large octavo, wide margins, good paper, large 
type. Contents : 

The Gods; Humboldt; Individuality; Thomas Paine ; Heretics and Heresies ; 
The Ghosts ; The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child ; The Centennial Oration, 
or Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1876. What I Know About Farming 
in Illinois ; Speech at Cincinnati in 1876, nominating James G. Blaine for the 
Presidency ; The Past Rises Before Me ; or, Vision of War, an extract from a 
Speech made at the Soldiers and Sailors Reunion at Indianapolis, Indiana, 
Sept. 21, 1876 ; A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll ; The Grant Banquet ; Crimes 
Against Criminals ; Tribute to the Rev. Alexander Clarke. Some Mistakes of 
Moses ; What Must We Do to be Saved ? Blasphemy, Argument in the trial of 
C. B. Reynolds. Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by 
the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.; to which is added a Talmagian Catechism, 
aad four Prefaces, which contain some of Mr. Ingersoll's best and brightest 
sayings. 

Containing 143 1 pages, bound in cloth, gold back and side stamps. 
Price, post-paid, $3.50. Half morocco, $5. Full sheep, law style, #5 
This is an entirely new edition and a handsomely proportioned book. 

Volume II. Will follow soon, containing all of his latest leklures- 

Ingersoll's Liberty in Literature G Testimonial to wait 

Whitman. '"''Let us put wreaths on the brows of the living." An address 
delivered in Philadelphia, Oct. 21, 1890, with Portrait of Whitman. Also 
contains the funeral oration ,...„ Paper, 25 cents ; cloth, 50 cents. 

Ingersoll (R. G.) What Must we do to be Saved ? 

Analyzes the so-called gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and de- 
votes a chapter each to the Catholics. Episcopalians, Me f uodists, Presbyte- 
rians, Evangelical Alliance, and answers the question of trie Christians as to 
what he proposes instead of Christianity— the religion of sword and flame. 
Paper 25 cents. 

Civil Rights Speech. With Speech of Hon. Fred'k Douglass. 
Paper 10 cents. 

IngerSOSl (R. G.) Orthodoxy. A Lecture Paper, 10 cents.. 

Prose- Poems and Selections. Fifth edition, enlarged 

and revised. A handsome quarto, containing 406 pages. This is, beyond ques- 
tion, the cheapest and most elegant volume in Liberal literature. Its mechan- 
ical finish is worthy of its intrinsic excellence. No expense has been spared to 
make it the thing of beauty it is. The type is large and clear, the paper heavy, 
highly calendered, and richly tinted, the presswork faultless, and the binding 
as perfect as the best materials and skill can make it. 

As to the contents, it is enough to say that they include all of the choicest utterances 
of the greatest writer on the topics treated that has ever lived. 

Those who have not the good fortune to own all of Mr. Ingersoll's published works, 
will have in this book of selections many bright samples of his lofty thought, his 
matchless eloquence, his wonderful imagery, and his epigrammatic and poetic 
power. The collection includes all of the "Tributes " that have become famous 
in literature— notably those to his brother E. c. Ingersoll, Lincoln, Grant, 
Beecher, Conklin, Courtlandt M. Palmer, Mary Fiske, Elizur Wright : his peer- 
less monographs on " The Vision of War," Love, Liberty, Art and Morality, 
Science, Nature, The Imagination, Decoration Day Oration, What is Poetry, 
Music of Wagner, Origin and Destiny, " Leaves of Grass," and on the great 
heroes of intellectual Liberty. Besides these there are innumerable gems taken 
here and there from the orations, speeches, arguments, toasts, lectures, letters 
interviews, and day by day conversations of the author. 

Che book is designed for, and will be accepted by, admiring friends as a rare per- 
sonal souvenir. To help it serve this purpose, a fine steel portrait, with auto- 
graph fac-simile. has been prepared especially for it. In the more elegant styles 
of binding it is eminently suited for presentation purposes, for any season or 
occasion. 

Prices.— In cloth, beveled boards, gilt edges, $2.50 ; in half morocco, gilt edges, $5; 
in half calf, mottled edges, library style, $4.50 ; in full Turkey morocco, gilt 
exquisitely fine, $7.50; in full tree calf, highest possible finish. $9. 

Cheaper edition from same plates 31.50 

The Teachers of Truth are the Benefactors of Mankind. 



io Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 

ROBERT G. INGEKSOLL/S WORKS- {Continued.) 

IngersolS-Giadstone Controversy on Christianity e 

From the North American Review. Paper, 25 cts. 

Crimes AgaJnSt Criminals. Delivered before the New 

York State Ear Association, at Albany, N. Y., Jan. 21, 18SG Paper, 10 cts. 

Lithograph of R. G. Ingersoli. 22x2s inch., heavy 



platepaper 50 cts. 

— Photographs of CoL Ingersoli. is * 24, $500. impe- 
rial, 73^x13, $1.50. Cabinet, 25 cts. Ingersoli and granddaughter Eva III., (a 

home picture,) So cts. 

AbOUt the Holy Bible. Just out. A new Lecture Abou 

the Holy Bible Paper, 25 cents 

SnaKSSpeare. Ingersoll's Great Lecture on Shakespeare, with a 
rare and handsome half-ton picture of the Kesseistadt Death Mask. .Paper, 25c. 

— The Great Ingersoli Controversy, containing the 

Famous Christmas Sermon, by Colonel E. G. Ingersoli, tlie indignant protests 
thereby evoked from ministers of various denominations, and Col. Ingersoll's 
replies" to the same. A work of tremendous interest to every thinking man and 
woman Paper, 25 cts. 

■ — -IS SiiiClde a Sin? "Something Brand New!" Ingersoll's 
s+artline\ brilliant and thrillinRrlv eloquent letters, which created such a sen- 
sation when published in the New York World, together with the replies of 



Paper • 25 cts, 

Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child, just out. 

A Lecture. Paper, 25 cts. 

Patriotic Addresses. By coi. Rot*, g. fngersoii, re- 
union ADDRESS, at Eimwood, Ills., Sept. 5, 1895, and DECORA- 
TION-DAY ORATION, in New York, May 30, 18S2. Paper, 25 cts. 

V/hich Way ? A Lecture, by Robert G. Ingersoli. Paper, 25 cts. 

Some ReaSOnS Why. A Lecture, by R. G. Ingersoli. Pa. 25c 

Myth and Miracle. A Lecture, by R. G. Ingersoli. Pa. 2 5 c 

— — The Foundations of Faith. ByR. g. ingersoli. p a . 25c 

The Field-Ingersoll Discussion, faith or ag- 
nosticism. From the North American Review. Paper, 25 cts. 

The Christian Religion. From the North American Re- 

view, by Robt. G. Ingersoli, and Judge Jeremiah S. Black. Pa. 25 cts. 

HOW tO Reform Mankind. A Lecture. Paper, 25 cts. 

Essays and Criticisms. By Robert G. Ingersoli. Paper, 

25 cts.; cloth 50 cts. 

Colonel Robert G. ingersoli as he is. " a complete Ref- 
utation of his Clerical Enemies' Malicious Slanders ; the Dishonest State- 
ments Regarding Himself and his Family Authoritatively Denied, and the 
Proof Given." i2mo, paper bound, colored cover, with fine half-tone likeness 
of Colonel Ingersoli. Paper, 25 cts. 

Why 1 am an AgnOStiC. Entirely rewritten and greatly enlarged. 
Never before published. One of Ingersoll's grandest efforts. Paper, 25c. 

Lecture On Lincoln. 3y R. G. Ingersoli. With Century portrait 
of the martyr President. In fine pamphlet form 25 cts. 

Works that have Enlightened the World. 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics, // 

IngerSOH tO the Clergy. His Answers to their Questions and 
Criticisms. Replies to the Indianapolis Clergymen, Brooklyn Divines and 
the Unitarians. To which are added Col. Ingersoll's latest Address on 
Thomas Paine, at Chickering Hall, New York, 1892. Col. Ingersoll's paper 
en God in the Constitution. Paper, 25 cts. 

A Thanksgiving Sermon. b 7 r. g. ingersoll aiso/trir 

UTE TO HENRY WARD BEECHER. « I Than ££ '£**{££& 
the heroes, the apostles of reason, the disciples of truth, the soldiers of 
freedom— the heroes who held high the holy torch and filled the world with 
light." Price, 25 cts. 

JACOLLIOT (L.) Bible in India. Hindoo Origin of Chris- 
tiamt 7 7 $2.oc 

JtiniUS' Letters. From Woodfall's London Edition $1.25 

JoSephUS. The Complete Works $I . so 

JuniUS Unmasked. Paine the author of Letters of Junius and Decla- 
ration of independence. By W. H. Burr $1. =0 

EELER (B. C.) Short History of the Bible Paper, 50 cts. 

cloth 75 cts. 

Koran, The or, Alkoran of Mahomet. "The Bible of the East." 
Translated into English from the original Arabic, with Notes and a Prelim- 
inary Discourse by George Sale. With Maps and Plans. Demy, 8vo, gilt top.. $2 
Roxburgh Style $1.00 

LJfe. A Prose-Poem. By Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. This world-famous 
monograph is without its peer in literature. It is a gem without a flaw. 
The engraver's and printer's art have blended strength and beauty in their 
work, faithfully producing the dual portrait, and entwining a v/iid-rose 
border about it and the text, making altogether an exquisite work of art, 
suitable for elegant frame, for parlor, easel or mantel. This elegant panel 
is printed and lithographed in color, and signed in autograph fac-simile on 
neavy card board, size 12^ x 16 inches. Price, 50 cts. 

Life Of ThomaS Faine. By the editor of the National, with Preface 
and Notes by Peter Eckler. illustrated with views of the Old Paine Home- 
stead and Paine Monument at New Rochelle ; also, portraits of the most 
prominent of Paine's friends in Europe and America. As "a man is known 
by the company he keeps," these portraits of Paine's associates are in them- 
selves a sufficient refutation of the wicked libels against Paine that have so 
long disgraced sectarian literature. Crown 8vo... Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, 75 cts. 

Liberty of Man, Woman and Child, with a beautiful 

half-tone picture of Colonel Ingersoll and his two grandchildren, Eva and 
Robert ; also his famous Tribute to his Brother Paper, 25 cts. 

LeCtUre On Shakespeare. By R. G. Ingersoll. The Lecture so 
much admired by ail lovers of Shapespeare. Handsome pamphlet. . ..25 cts. 

LibertV in Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman, by Col. 
Robert" G. Ingersoll. Address delivered in Philadelphia October 21, 1890. 
Also Address by Col. Ingersoll at the Funeral of Walt Whitman, Camden, 
N. j!, March 30, 1892 Paper, 25 cts. ; cloth, 50 cts. 

Lessons from the World of Matter and the World 

of Man By Theodore Parker. Selected from notes of unpublished sermons 
by Rufiis Leighton. i2mo, 430 pp Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.25 

Thoughts that Live in Words Sublime. 



12 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 




J"TjLst IP -u. Tolls li©c3~ Tli© 

LIFE OF JESUS, 

BY ERNEST RENAN. 

400 pages. Beautifully Illustrated. Cloth, 75 cts.; paper, 50 cents. 

inxr press. Tia.© 

WISDOM OF LIFE 

By ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER. 



With portrait of Schopenhauer. 



Paper, 2,5 cents. 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 
" Schopenhauer is not simply a moralist writing in his study and applying 
abstract principles to the conduct of thought and action, but is also in a large 
measure a man of the world, with a firm grasp of the actual, and is therefoie 
able to speak in a way which, to use Bacon's phrase, comes home to men's 
business and bosoms. The essentially practical character of his Wisdom of 
Life is evidenced by his frequent recourse to illustrations, and his singu'arly 
apt use of them. . Mr. Bailey Saunders' introductory essay adds much to the 
value and interest of a singularly suggestive volume.' 1 '—Manchester Examiner : 
"The new lights which Mr. Saunders' translations give us into the character 
of the great pessimist are of considerable value. The Wisdom of Life is well 
worth reading and Mr. Saunders has done his work we'll." — Glasgow Herald. 

Im. i?:r©;pst:rsttio:n_.. Til© 

Ignorant Philosopher. 

"From ttve "French oi "M. cle ^Toltavre, 
Portraits of Descartes and Spinoza. Paper, 25 cts. 

^/OLSTA IRES 

LETTERS ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 

With comments on the writings of the most eminent authors who have been 
accused of attacking Christianity. Many portaits. Paper, 25 cents. 

TIE3I IE 

Philosophy of History. 

By "Voltaire. (With superb portrait of the Empress Catherine.) 

This admirable work is " humbly dedicated by the author to the most high 
and puissant Princess, Catherine the Second, Empress of all the Russias, 
protrectress of the arts and sciences ; by her genius entitled to judge of ancient 
nations^ as she is by her merit worthy to govern her own." Paper, 25 cts. 



Eckler's Library of Liberal Classics contains the Best Book* 

of the 20th Century. 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics, jj 

Life Of JeSUS, by ERNEST RENAN, with many valuable illustra- 
tions. 400 pages, crown 8vo, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, gilt top, 75 cts. 
Although educated as a Catholic priest, Renan, from study and observation, 
became a philosopher. From his religious training he had learned to ad- 
mire and respect the chai-acter and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, but his 
good sense and reason led him to disbelive in the supernatural origin of the 
" Son of Mary." His reasons for this disbelief — this want of faith — are as 
follows, and are given in his own words : 

" None of the miracles with which the old histories are filled took place under scientific 
conditions. Observation, which has never once been falsified, teaches us that miracles 
never happen but in times and countries in which they are believed, and before persons 
disposed to believe them. No miracle ever occurred in the presence of men capable of 
testing its miraculous character. Neither common people nor men of the world are able to 
do this. It requires great precautions and long habits of scientific research. In our days 
have we not seen almost all respectable people dupes of the grossest frauds or of puerile 
illusions ? Marvelous facts, attested by the whole population of small towns, have, thanks 
to a severe scrutiny, been exploded. If it is proved that no contemporary miracle will bear 
inquiry, is it not probable that the miracles of the past, which have all been performed in 
popular gatherings, would equally present their share of illusion, if it were possible to 
criticise them in detail ? 

"It is not. then, in the name of this or that philosophy, but in the name of universal 
experience, that we banish miracle from history. We do not say, ' Miracles are impossible.' 
We say, 'Up to this time a miracle has never been proved.' If to-morrow a thaumaturgus 
presents himself with credentials sufficiently important to be discussed, and announces 
himself as able, say s to raise the dead ; what should be done ? A commission, composed of 
physiologists, physicists, chemists, persons accustomed to historical criticism, would be 
named. This commission would choose a corpse, would assure itself that the death was real, 
would select the room in which the experiment should be made, would arrange the whole 
system of precautions, so as to leave no chance of doubt. If, under such conditions, the 
resurrection were effected, a probability almost equal to certainty would be established. As, 
however, it ought to be possible always to repeat an experiment,— to do over again that 
which has been done once ; and as, in the order of miracle, there can be no question of ease 
or difficulty, the thaumaturgus would be invited to reproduce his marvelous act under other 
circumstances, upon other corpses, in another place. If the miracle succeeded each time, 
two things would be proved : first, that supernatural events happen in the world ; second, 
that the power of producing them belongs, or is delegated to, certain persons. But who 
does not see that no miracle ever took place under these conditions? but that always 
hitherto the thaumaturgus has chosen the subject of the experiment, chosen the spot, 
chosen the public ; that, besides, the people themselves— most commonly in consequence of 
the invincible want to see something divine in great events and great men— create the 
marvelous legends afterwards? Until a new order of things prevails, we shall maintain 
then, this principle of historical crititism — that a supernatural account cannot be admitted 
as such, that it always implies credun'ty or imposture, that the duty of the historian is to 
explain it, and seek to ascertain what share of truth, or of error, it may contain." 

Of the different works which M. Renan has written upon the History of the 
Origins of Christianity, his Life of fesus has been received by the public with, 
the greatest favor. Many translations of this book have been made from the 
original French edition, and many rival editions have been published in Europe 
and America. Thousands upon thousands of copies have been disposed of, and 
still the demand for the work has not ceased. 

The present edition is reprinted from the thirteenth revised French edition, 
and the interesting Preface and the valuable Appendix from that edition have 
also been included. A portrait of Renan when a young man, and another from 
a photograph taken at Paris in his old age, have been added ; also, a portrait of 
Renan's sister Henriette, a view of the house at Treguier in Brittany where 
Renan was born, views of the cloister, and cathedral at Treguier, under whose 
shadow the future author of the " Vie de fesus" was brought up, a charming 
view of the Bay of Ghazier in Syria, where the Life of fesus was written, and 
a view of Renan's quarters at Amschit, where Henriette Renan died. 

As Renan greatly admired all that was natural in the Life of fesus, and 
determinedly abjured all that related to the supernatural and miraculous, we have 
added a portrait of the child Jesus, his father Joseph, and his mother Mary. 
This engraving is from a painting by the celebrated Italian artist Giuseppe 
Maria Crespi, and represents Jesus assisting his father Joseph, at a carpenter's 
work-bench, while his mother Mary, seated near them, is industriously and use- 
fully engaged with thread and needle. This picture, while not romantic, may claim 
to be more " natural" than the usual representations of the " Holy Family." 

From the great number of imaginary portraits of the "Son of Man," invented 
by the genius of Italian painters, we have selected that of Boccaccio Boccaccino 
for reproduction, it being judged the most worthy from an artistic point of view. 

The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, will long be remembered by the 
superstitious, who believe that the accident to Judas, and the crucifixion of Jesus 
took place because there were 13 persons present on that memorable occasion. 

The Descent from the Cross, by Luca Cambiaso, equals, if it does not surpass 
in merit, the efforts of any of his rivals in the Italian school of painting. 



tj. Caialogtce of Liberal Classics. 



MAN IN THE FAST, PRESENT AND FU- 
TURE. By Prof. Ludwig Buchner, It describes Man as " a being not 
put upon the earth accidentally by an arbitrary act, but produced in harmony 
with the earth's nature, and belonging to it as do the flowers and fruits to 
the tree which bears them." Cloth, $1.00 

Mahomet, The Illustrious, by Godfrey higgins, Esq, 

Perhaps no author has appeared who was better qualified for writing an 
honest Life of Mahomet — the Illustrious — than Godfrey Higgins, Esq. , the 
author of the present work. His knowledge of the Oriental languages, 
his careful and methodical examination of all known authorities — his evident 
desire to state the exact truth, joined to the judicial character of his mind, 
eminently fitted him for the task, and he has produced a work that will 
prove of interest to both Mahometans and Christians. Preface by Peter 
Eckler. Crown 8vo paper s 25 cts. ; cloth 50 cts. 

Mahomet: His Birth, Character and Doctrine, 

BY EDWARD GIBBON, Esq. Gibbon's account of the Arabian legislator 
and prophet, is conceded to be historically correct in every particular, and 
so grand and perfect in every detail as to be practically beyond the reach of 
adverse criticism. Crown 8vo. paper, 25 cts. ; cloth, 50 cts. 

Martyrdom Of Man (The*) By Winwood Reade. This book is a 

very interestingly pictured synopsis of universal history, showing what the 
race has undergone — its martyrdom — in its rise to its present plane. It 
shows how war and religion have been oppressive factors in the struggle for 
liberty, and the last chapter, of some 150 pages, describes his intellectual 
struggle from the animal period of the earth to the present, adding an out- 
line of what the author conceives would be a religion of reason and love. 
Cloth $1.00 

Mesller's Superstition In All Ages, jean Mesiier was a 

Roman Catholic Priest who, after a pastoral service of thirty years in 
France, wholly abjured religious dogmas, and left this work as his last Will 
and Testament to his parishioners and to the world. Preface by Peter 
Eckler. 339 pp., portrait. Crown 8vo, paper, 50 c; cloth, $1.00; half calf, $3.00 
$W~ The same work in German Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00 

Mitchell (Richard M.) The Safe Side; a The-istic Refu- 
tation of the Divinity of Christ. 475 pages Cloth, $1.50 

# * * «« The Safe Side " is written from what may be described as the most 
agnostic position possible within the range of Unitarian views. It presents 
a great number of "nuts to crack," by those students of the scriptures and 
the history of the church who have gone over the ground for themselves, and 
are credited with the ability to pass judgment upon the arguments for and against 
li the faith as once delivered to the saints." — Chicago ** Tribune." 

Mans Whence and Whither? By Richard b. Westbrook, 

D.D., LL.D. The author has here presented in his peculiarly pungent style 
about all that can be said for the existence of God and the future life of man, 
while he practically disposes of many collateral questions. His assaults upon 
Atheism and Orthodox Theology are equally robust. 226 pp Cloth, S1.00 

Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, The work contains 

Horatius, a Lay made about the year of the city ccclx ; The Battle of the 
Lake Regiilus, a Lay sung at the Feast of Castor and Pollux on the Ides of 
Quintilis, in the year of the city ccccli ; Virginia ; fragments of a Lay sung 
in the Forum on the day whereon Lucius Lextius Sextinus Lateranus and 
Caius Licinius Calvus Stolo were elected Tribunes of the Commons the fifth 
time, in the year of the city ccclxxxii ; The Prophecy of Capys ; a Lay 
sung at the Banquet in the Capitol, on the day whereon Manius Curius 
Dentatus, a second time Consul, triumphed over King Pyrrhus and the 
Tarentines, in the year of the city cccclxxix ; Ivry, a Song of the Hugue- 
nots ; The Armada, a fragment. A beautiful gift book, with portrait and 
115 exquisite outline illustrations, (original and from the antique), drawn on 
wood by George Scharf , Jr. 4to ,„„„,, Cloth, extra gilt, $2.50 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. ij 

rks of Thomas Paine. 

Common Sense* A Revolutionary pamphlet addressed to the inhab- 
itants of America in 1776, with an explanatory notice by an English author. 
Paine's first and most important political work. Paper 15 cts. 

The Cr|SlS«» i6mimbers. Written during the darkest hours of the American 
Revolution " in the the times that tried men's souls." Paper, 25c.; cloth 50c. 

The Rights Of Man. Being an answer to Burke's attack upon the 
French Revolution. A work almost without a peer. Paper, 25c; cloth, 50c. 

The Age Of ReaSOn. Being an investigation of True and Fabulous 
Theology. A new and unabridged edition. For nearly one hundred years 
the clergy have been vainly trying to answer this book. Paper 25c. ; cloth 50c. 

Paine's Religious and Theological Works complete. 

Comprising the Age of Reason — An Investigation of True and Fabulous 
Theology ; An Examination of the Prophecies of the coming of Jesus 
Christ ; The Books of Mark, Luke and John ; Contrary Doctrines in the 
New Testament between Matthew and Mark ; An Essay on Dreams ; 
Private Thoughts on a Future State ; A Letter to the Hon. Thomas 
Erskine ; Religious Year of the Theophilanthropists ; Precise History 
of the Theophilanthropists; A Discourse Delivered to the Society of 
Theophilanthropists at "Paris ; A Letter to Camille Jordan ; Origin of Free- 
masonry ; The " Names in the Book of Genesis ; Extract from a Reply 
to the Bishop of Llandaff; The Book of Job; Sabbath or Sunday; Future 
State; Miracles; An Answer to a Friend on the rublication of the Age 
of Reason; Letters to Samuel Adams and Andrew A. Dean; Remarks 
on Robert Hail's Sermons ; The word Religion j Cain and Abel; The 
Tower of Babel ; To Members of the Society styling itself the Missionary 
Society; Religion of Deism; The Sabbath Day of Connecticut ; Ancient 
History; Bishop Moore; John Maion; Books of the New Testament ; Deism 
and the Writing's of Thomas Paine, etc. The work has also a fine Portrait of 
Paine, as Deputy to the National Convention in France, and portraits of 
Samuel Adafcs, Thomas Erskine, Camille Jordan, Richard Watson, and 
other illustrations. One vol., post 8vo., 432 pages, paper 50 cts., cloth $i.co. 

Paine's Principal Political Works, containing common 

Sense ; The Crisis, (16 numbers) , Letter to the Abbe Raynal ; Letter from 
Thomas Paine to General Washington ; Letter from General Washington to 
Thomas Paine; Rights of Man, parts land II.; Letter to the Abbe Sieves. 
With portrait and illustrations, in one volume, 655 pp., pa. 50 cts.; cloth $x. 

Maine's Political Works complete, in two vols., containing 

over 500 pp. each, post 8vo, cloth, with portrait and illustrations. $1.00 per vol. 
/olume I. contains : Common Sense and the Epistle to the Quakers ; The 
Crisis, (the 16 Numbers Complete); A Letter to the Abbe Raynal; Letter 
from Paine to Washington ; Letter from Washington to Paine ; Dissertation 
on Government, the Affairs of the Bank and Paper Money ; Prospects on the 
Rubicon ; or, an Investigation into the Causes and Consequences of the Poli- 
tics to be agitated at the next Meeting of Parliament ; Public Good, being an 
Examination into the claim of Virginia to the Western Territory, etc. 
Volume II. contains : Rights of Man in two Parts, (Part I. being an Answer 
to Burke's Attack on the French Revolution ; Part II. contains Principle and 
Practice) ; Letter to Abbe Sieves ; To the Authors of the Republican ; Letter 
Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation ; Letters to Lord 
Onslow; Dissertation on First Principles of Government; .Letters to Mr. 
Secretary Dundas ; Speech in the French National Convention ; Reasons 
for Sparing the Life of Louis Capet; Letter to the People of France ; On the 
Propriety of Bringing Louis XVI. to Trial ; Speech in the National Conven- 
tion on the Question, " Shall or shall not a Respite of the Sentence of Lcuis 
XVI. take place ?" To the People of France and the French Armies ; Decline 
and Fall of the English System of Finance ; Agrarian Justice, etc. 

Life Of ThomaS Paine. By the editor of the National, with Preface 
and Notes by Peter Eckler. Illustrated with views of the Old Paine Home- 
stead and Paine Monument at New Rochelle ; also, portraits of the most 
' prominent of Paine's friends in Europe and America. As " a man is known 
by the company he keeps," these portraits of Paine's associates are in them- 
selves a sufficient refutation of the wicked libels against Paine that have so 
long disgraced sectarian literature. Post 8vo, paper 50 cts.; cloth 75 cts. 

Paine's Vindication. A Reply to the New York Observer's attack 
is pen the Author-hero of the Revolution, by R, Q. IngersolL Paper, 15 cts. 



i6 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics, 




POPDUfi EDITIONS OF PH'E IlJliS. 



Age of Reason, ..... 
Common Sense, . 

Rights of Man, . . . 

Crisis, 

Religious and Theological Works, 
Principal Political Works, (1 vol.) 
Complete " " (2 vols.) 

Poetical and Miscellaneous Works, 
Life, by the Editor of the National, 
Complete Life of Paine, by Thos. Clia 
RICKMAN & the Editor of the National. Ills. 



iPES 


CLOTB 


25 


50 


15 


— 


25 


m 


25 


so 


SO 


t.OO 


50 


1,00 


— 


2.Q0 


— 


1.0O 


SO 


75 



- 1.CO 



Students' Illustrated Edition of Paine's "Works, 

5 volumes, bound uniform, boxed, including, 
Poetical and Miscellaneous Works, i vol. 1 
Religious and Theological i vol. 

Complete Political ** 2 vol. v 
Life, by Thomas Clio Rickman and 
the Editor of the National 1 vol. 



5.00 



PETER ECKLER, 35 Fulton St., N, V. 



Only Works of Sterling Merit Published. 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. jj 

Paine's Complete Works. 

THE STUDENT'S ILLUSTRATED EDITION. 

COMPRISING 

Paine's Religious and Theological Works, in ( i vol.) 
Paine's Poetical and Miscellaneous Works, (i vol.) 

Paine's Political Works, (complete in 2 vols,) and also, 

Paine's Life* ky the editor of The National, and by Thomas 

Clio Rickman ; with Lord Erskine's speech in behalf of Paine, 

Court of King's Bench, London, Eng., Dec. 18, 1792, (1 vol.) 

8^" Forming together, Five Handsome, Crown 8 vo. volumes, in a box. Bound 
in brown vellum cloth, gilt leather titles, and sold at $5.00 for the entire set. 

As is well known Paine's political and religious writings exerted an immense 
influence in America r England and France during his life, and since his death 
that beneficent influence has increased and extended throughout the civilized 
world . A copy of this illustrated edition of his works (which for elegance, accuracy 
and completeness is not excelled, if equalled, by editions sold at treble the price) 
should be in the library of every patriot— of every lover of Truth, Justice and 
Liberty. 

Political Works of Thomas Paine, Complete, in two 

vols., containing over 500 pp. each, with portrait and many illustrations. 
Crown 8vo., brown vellum cloth, gilt leather titles, $1.00 per vol. 

Vol. I. contains; Common Sense and the Epistle to the Quakers: The 
Crisis, (the 16 Numbers Complete); A Letter to the Abbe Raynal ; Letter 
from Paine to Washington ; Letter from Washington to Paine ; Dissertation 
on Government, the Affairs of the Bank and Paper Money ; Prospects on the 
Rubicon; or, an Investigation into the Causes and Consequences of the Poli- 
tics to be agitated at the next Meeting of Parliament ; Public Good, being an 
Examination into the claim of Virginia to the Western Territory, etc. 

Fol. II. contains: Rights of Man in two Parts, (Part I. being an Answer 
to Burke's Attack on the French Revolution ; Part II. contains Principle and 
Practice) ; Letter to Abbe Sieyes ; To the Authors of the Republican; Letter 
Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation; Letters to Lord 
Onslow; Dissertation on First Principles of Government; Letters to Mr. 
Secretary Dundas ; Speech in the French National Convention ; Reasons 
for Sparing the Life of Louis Capet; Letter to the People of France; On the 
Propriety of Bringing Louis XVI. to Trial ; Speech in the National Conven- 
tion on the Question, "Shall or shall not a Respite of the Sentence of Louis 
XVI. take place ?" To the People of France and the French Armies ; Decline 
and Fall or the English System cf Finance ; Agrarian Justice, etc. 

Theological and Religious Works of Thos. Paine 

COMPLETE. Comprising the Age of Reason — an Investigation of True 
and Fabulous Theology; An Examination of the Prophecies of the coming of 
Jesus Christ ; The Books of Mark, Luke and John ; Contrary Doctrines in the 
New Testament between Matthew and Mark; An Ess'ay on Dreams; 
Private Thoughts on a Future State; A Letter to the Hon. Thomas 
Erskine; Religious Year of the Theophilanthropists ; Precise History 
of the Theophilanthropists; A Discourse Delivered to the Society of 
Theophilanthropists at Paris; A Letter to Camille Jordan ; Origin of Free- 
masonry; The Names in the Book of Genesis; Extract from a Reply 
to the Bishop of Llandaff; The Book of Job; Sabbath or Sunday; Future 
State; Miracles; An Answer to a Friend on the Publication of the Age 
of Reason; Letters to Samuel Adams and Andrew A. Dean; Remarks 
on Robert Hall's Sermons; The word Religion; Cain and Abel; The 
Tower of Babel ; To Members of the Society styling itself the Missionary 
Society; Religion of Deism; The Sabbath Day of Connecticut ; Ancient 
History ; Bishop Moore ; John Mason ; Books of the New Testament ; Deism 
and the Writings of Thomas Paine, etc. The work has also a fine Portrait of 
Paine, as Deputy to the National Convention in France, and portraits of 
Samuel Adams, Thomas Erskine, Camille Jordan, Richard Watson, and 
other illustrations. One vol., Crown 8vo., brown vellum cloth, gilt leather 
title, 432 pages. Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00. 



i8 Catalogue of Liberal Classics* 

Paine's Poetical and f^Isceilaneous Works com- 

PLETE. Containing Introduction to the first number of the Pennsylvania 
Magazine ; The Snowdrop and Critic ; The Pennsylvania Magazine • 
Liberty Tree ; The Death of General Wolfe ; Burning of Bachelors' Fall' 




~ the 

Jew; Farmer Shorts Dog, Porter ; " Wise Men from the East:" A Lone 
Nosed Friend ; Useful and Entertaining Hints; A Fable of Alexander the 
Great; Cupid and Hymen; To Forgetf ulness ; Life and Death of Lord 
Chve ; Case of the Officers of Excise ; Salary of the Officers of Excise 
Evils Arising from Poverty; Qualifications of Officers; Petition to the 
Board of Excise; Letter to Dr. Goldsmith ; To a Friend in Philadelphia- 
On the Utility of Iron Bridges ; On the Construction of Iron Bridges* To 
the Congress of the United States ; To a Friend ; Anecdote of Lord Malms- 
bury ; To Thomas Clio Rickman ; Preface to General Lee's Memoirs; To a 
Gentleman at New York; The Yellow Fever; better to a Friend ; Address 
and Declaration; To Elihu Palmer; Thomas Paine at Seventy; Letters to 

/-» -*TT -u:„~i . >f -•„! „f mt. T-«_;_ . J.- T.ir_ H* ' -r . 




marks by Mr. Paine ; Address from Bordentown ; To the English People 
on the Invasion of England; To the French Inhabitants of Louisiana; To 
the Citizens of Pennsylvania on the Proposal for a Convention ; Of Consti- 
tutions, Governments, and Charters ; Remarks on the Political and Military 
Affairs of Europe ; Of the English Navy; Remarks on Gov. Lewis's Speech 
to the Legislature at Albany ; Of Gunboats * Ships of War, Gunboats, and 
Fortifications; Remarks on Mr. Hale's Resolutions at Albany; Letters to 
Morgan Lewis on the Prosecution of Thomas Farmer ; On the Question, 
Will there be War? On Louisiana and Emmissaries; A Challenge to the 
Federalists to Declare their Principles ; Liberty of the Press ; Of the Affairs 
of England ; To the People of New York ; Reply to Cheetham ; The Emis- 
sary Cullen or Carpenter ; Communication on Cullen ; Federalists Beginning 
to Reform ; To a Friend of Peace ; Reprimand to James Cheetham ; Cheet- 
ham and his Tory Paper; The Emissary Cheetham ;~ To the Federal 
Faction; Memorial to Congress; To Congress. One volume, Crown 8 vo., 
brown vellum cloth, gilt leather title, $1.00. 

The Life Of Thomas Pa!ne 9 by the editor of the National, with 
Preface and Notes by Peter Eckler. The work is Illustrated with views 
of the Old Paine Homestead and Paine Monument at New Rochelle ; with 
a fine portrait of Paine, engraved by Mr. Sharp from the portrait painted 
by Rornney, which is endorsed by Mr. Rickman "as a true likeness;" 
also, with a full page illustration of the handwriting and signature of Mr. 
Paine, copied from a letter addressed to Rickman, dated New York, July 
12, '06. To the above is added Paine's Life by his intimate and life-long 
friend Thomas Clio Rickman,— who respected and honored the 
"Author-Hero of the Resolution" for his brilliant talents and unchanging 
devotion to the cause of civil and religious liberty, and who loved 
him for his sterling merits, his generous impulses, his unselfish character, 
and noble conduct. It was at the home of Mr. Rickman, in Upper Mary-le- 
Bone street, London, that Mr. Paine met and became acquainted with 
Mary Woolstonecraft, John Home Tooke, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Towers, Romney, 
the painter, Sharp, the engraver, Col. Oswald, and other celebrated Eng- 
lish reformers. Lord Erskine's speech in behalf of Paine, Court of King's 
Bench, London, Eng., Dec. 18, 1702, has been added, to complete the subject. 

The work is also enriched with authentic portraits of the most prominent of 
Paine's friends and acquaintances in Europe and America, among whom are : 
C. F. Volney ; Thomas Clio Rickman ; Oliver Goldsmith ; Joel Barlow ; Dr. 
Joseph Priestley; Benjamin Franklin; Mary Woolstonecraft; John Home 
Tooke; Brissot; Condorcet; Madame Roland; James Monroe; Danton ; 
Marat; M. De La Fayette ; Thomas Jefferson ; Robespierre; George Wash- 
ington, and Napoleon Bonaparte. A view is given of the Temple, (the 
dismal fortress in which Louis XVI. was confined previous to his exe- 
cution,) and also a view of the death scene of Marat, with a portrait of 
Charlotte Corday, his executioner. A portrait is also given of Rouget de 
Lisle, with a correct version in French of the Marseillaise Hymn, with the 
musical notes of the same, which, as Lamartine tells us, "rustled like a flag 
dipped in gore, still reeking in the battle plain : It made one tremble." 
One volume, Crown 8 vo., brown vellum cloth, gilt leather title. $t.oo. 

Note— The Life of Paine, by the editor of the National., is also sold separately 
from the above. Paper, 50c. Cloth, 75c. 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics, 19 

Origin Of SpecieS, by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation 
of a Favored Race in the Struggle for Life. By Charles Darwin. Gilt top. 

Cloth... $1.00 

This book is the grandest achievement of modern scientific thought and research. It has 
passed through many editions in English, has been translated into almost all the languages 
of Europe, and has been the subject of more reviews, pamphlets and separate books than 
any other volume of the age. Most of the great scientists of the age fully support his posi- 
tion. The thought of this book has become a part of the common inheritance of the race. 

Paradoxes* By Max Nordau. "Excellent language, great clearness of 
argument, by one of the frankest philosophical writers of the present day." — 
Chicago Tribune. 377 pp . Paper, $1.00 ; cloth, $1.50 

Profession of Faith of the Vicar of Savoy, By t. t 

Rousseau. Also, A SEARCH FOR TRUTH, by Olive Schreiner. Preface 
by Peter Eckler. Post 8vo, 128 pages, with Portrait.... Paper 25 c. ; cloth, 50 c. 

RELIGIOUS and Theological Works of Paine 
Complete. One vol., post 8vo., 432 pp Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00 

Reign Of the StOiCS. Their History, Religion, Philosophy, Maxims 
of Self -Control, Self-Culture, Benevolence, and Justice. By F. M. Holland. 
Price » $1.00 

Philosophy of Disenchantment. By e. e. Saitus. 233 pages. 

Cloth..,. 75 cts. 

Pocket Theology. By Voltaire. Brief, witty and sarcastic defini- 
tions of theological terms \ Paper, 25 cts. 

Reasons for Unbelief* by Louis Viardot. Translated from the 
French. This volume is an analysis, an abstract, an epitome of the 
reasons given by the greatest writers of all ages for disbelief in supernat 
ural religions. The arguments are clear, concise, convincing and conclusive; 
They are founded on reason and science, and rise to the dignity oi 
demonstrations. The book will prove a priceless treasure to all enquiring 

minds Paper, 25 cts.; cloth, 50 cts. 

" It is a good book, and will do good." — Robert G. Ingersoll. 

RochefoUCaUld'S Moral Maxims* Containing 541 Maxims 
and Moral Sentences, by Francis, Duke of Rochefoucauld ; together with 144 
Maxims and Reflections by Stanislaus, King of Poland. Also Maxims to live 
by, and Traits of Moral Courage in every-day life. i2mo, 186 pages. 

Cloth o 75 cts. 

" As Rochefoucauld his maxims drew 
From Nature, — I believe them true. 
They argue no corrupted mind 
In him— the fault is in mankind i" — Swift. 

Some Mistakes Of MoseS. Free Schools, The Fall, Dampness, 
Bacchus and Babel, Faith in Filth, Plagues, Inspired Slavery, Marriage, 
War, Religious Liberty. By R. G. Ingersoll Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.25 

Safe Side. A Theistic Refutation of the Divinity of Christ. By Richard 
M. Mitchell Cloth, $1.50 

Short History Of the Bible. Being a popular account of the 
Formation and Development of the Canon. By Bronson C. Keeler. Con- 
tents : The Hebrew Canon; The New Testament ; The Early Controver- 
sies; The Books at first not Considered Inspired; Were the Fathers 
Competent ; The Fathers quoted as Scripture Books which are now called 
Apocryphal; The Heretics; The Christian Canon. Paper, socts.; cloth, 75cts. 

Complete List of R. G. IngersolPs Works, the Greatest Mind 

of the 20th Century. 



20 Catalogue of Liberal Classics, 

Sands (Manie.) A Discourse about God. Paper, socts. 

" This work is compiled with remarkable skill."— The Bookseller and Newsman. 

— — A Discourse about Conduct. Paper.. 5 oct s . 

"We have before us the third part (the other parts not having reached us) of 
a work intended "to demonstrate that the universe is a whirl of opposites, and 
that these opposites are.eternal." This section is devoted to "Theological and 
Nomological Opposites," and seems to preach submission to an "impersonal 
God," who is identified with the Law of Nature. "Representatives" of "Reli- 
gious Filosophy, Theology, Buddhism, etc., take part in a discourse which 
bears some distant resemblance to dialogue, and at one point becomes quite 
dramatic— namely, where the Representative of Rational " Filosophy " pathe- 
tically complains, "This isspeculation, "and the Representative of Speculative 
"Filosophy" curtly rejoins, "Who said it was not?" Interspersed" with this 
semi-dialogue— which shows at least a certain breadth of thought, and is fruit- 
ful of problems, if not of solutions— there are numerous more or less apposite 
quotations from writers of every type and age. We are led from Dean Stanley 
to Meng-tse, from Amos and Micah to "Lawyer Ingersoll," from Sir John Lub- 
bock to Pythagoras and Homer, from Romans to Mrs. Annie Besant, from 
Johnson to the cuneiform inscriptions, from Shakespeare to "the dwarfs of 
Central Africa," from Goethe to Webster, from Strauss to St. Augustine, from 
Gilbert (of operatic fame) to "Sister Em. of the Salvation Army." We may 
well ask who has not obtained a voice in this microcosmic "whirl of opposites."— 
The Literary Guide, London. 

The following are in Press and will be published in the same neat style. 

A Discourse about Immortality, ByM. Sands. Papersoc 

A DiSCOUrse abOUt Religion. By Manie Sands. Paper, 50c 

A Discourse about the Law of Success and Fail- 

URE OF THINGS. By Manie Sands „, Paper, 50 cts. 

A Discourse about Opposites in General. By Manie 

Sands Paper, 50 cts. 

Social Contract ; or principles of political law. Also, 

A Project for a Perpetual Peace. By J. J. Rousseau. 1 vol., post 8vo, with 
Portrait. Preface by Peter Eckler. Paper, 50 cts.; extra vellum cloth, 75 cts. 

ALTUS* Anatomy of Negation, intended to convey a 

tableau of anti-Theism from Kapila to Leconte de Lisle. The anti-theistic 
tendencies of England and America having been fully treated by other 
writers. 1 
The following subjects are fully discussed : 1. The Revolt of the Orient, Kapila 
— The Buddha — Laou-tze. 2. The Negations of Antiquity, Theomachy — 
Skepticism — Epicurism — Atheism. 3. The Convulsions of the Church, Galilee 
—Rome. 4. The Dissent of the Seers, Spinoza — The Seven Sages of Potsdam 
— Holbach and his Guests. 5. The Protests of Yesterday, Akosmism — Pes~ 
simism — Materialism — Positivism. 6. A Poefs Verdict, Romantics and Par- 
nassians. Bibliography. i2mo 9 218 pp. Cloth 75 cts. 

Many a skeptic," says the author of The Anatomy of Negation, " has filled his hours in 
showing that things are not what they seem," but whatever indiscretions these " many 
skeptics " may have committed in the past, it is certain that the author of The Anatomy of 
Negation has not fallen into a like error in the present, for he has shown us things not 
only as they seem, but as they are, and his hook is as interesting as it is instructive. 
Ke has shown us that " man's belief in the supernatural antedates chronology. It was 
unfathered and without a mother. It was spontaneous, natural, and unassisted by rev- 
elation. It sprang into being with the first flight of fancy." 

He has also shown U3 how much we are indebted to the early skeptics — to the pioneers in 
freethought— for our present emancipation from the superstitions of the ages that have 
passed— for our almost complete disenthralment from the myths, the mysteries, the 
traditions, the legends, and the fables of antiquity, — and also for the auspicious promise 
of mental freedom, of intellectual liberty, which is new dawning upon the world. 

Sixteen CrUCified Saviors S or, Christianity Before Christ. Con- 
taining New, Startling and Extraordinary Revelations in Religious History 
which Disclose the Oriental Origin of all the Doctrines, Principles, Precepts 
and Miracles of the Christian New Testament, and Furnishes a Key for Un- 
locking Many of its Sacred Mysteries, besides Comprising the History of 
Sixteen Oriental Crucified Gods, etc. By Kersey Graves Cloth, $1.50 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 21 

Talleyrand's Letter to Pope Pius VII. with a Memoir 

and Portrait of the Author, his Famous Maxims, and also an account of his 
Celebrated Visit to Voltaire. Preface and Notes by Peter Eckier. 136 pp. 
Paper, 25 cts. ; cloth, 50 cts. 

The CreatlOfi Of God, by Dr. Jacob Hartmann. An explanation 
of the origin of the God Idea and of the mental processes that led to the 
formation of idols and the worship of them. From the time of Terah's 
apostasy, Abraham's, reformation, and his banishment for heresy and blas- 
phemy against the Chaldean idols, to Christ's coming, the principal charac- 
ters are analyzed and shown to be human, by thought and deed. It is made 
plain that the peculiar phraseology, cant sayings, subterfuges, miracles, 
wonder-workings, and supernatural padding are the proper offspring of the 
then existing barbarism, ignorance, and superstition, constituting the peculiar 
politics of the day. 432 pages, large i2mo. Paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00. 

VINDICATION of the Rights of Woman, with 
Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. By Mary Wollstonecraft. New 
Edition, with an Introduction by Mrs. Henry Fawcett Cloth, $1.00 

VoSney's Ruins of Empires and the Law of Na~ 

TURE. With Illustrations, Portrait of Volney, and Map of the Astrological 
Heaven of the Ancients. Also, Volney's Answer to Dr. Priestley, a Biograph- 
ical Notice by Count Daru, a Preface, and an Explanation of the Zodiacal 
Signs and Constellations by Peter Eckler. 248 pp., paper, 50 c; cloth, 75 c. 
Half calf $3.00 

New Researches in Ancient History; showing the 

origin of the Mosaic Legends concerning the Creation, Fall of Man, Flood, 
and Confusion of Languages $1.50 

Voices of Doubt and Trust, by volney streamer, is a small 

and beautifully printed volume, containing a collection of poems and prose 
extracts, aiming to give a candid expression of a soul's search for truth. 
The selections, which number about 200, are both unique and instructive, and 
are grouped under four headings, "Questionings," " Light on the Cloud," 
" Duty Here and Now," and " Trust." They cover a wide range of writers 
from Omar Khayyan to Goldwin Smith, and include selections from Aldrich, 
Kipling, Emerson, Walter Pater, Lowell, Bonar, Helen Jackson, the Brown- 
ings, R. G. Ingersoll, and many others. The result is a volume which, 
while it voices the questionings of the doubter, may, perchance, bear him 
beyond his accustomed mood, and suggest new ideas and thoughtful enquiries. 
No attempt has been made to edit these selections. They stand in each instance 
precisely as written, and for all that their authors intended. Price, $1.25. 

Visit tO Ceylon. By Ernst Haeckel, professor in the University of 
Jena. Author of The History of Creation, History of the Evolution of Man, 
etc. With Portrait, and Map of India and Ceylon. Translated by Clara 
Bell. 1 vol., post 8vo., 348 pp Extra vellum cloth, $1.00 

The Myth of the Great Deluge, by james m. mccann. 

Mr. McCann has written a very able, instructive and exhaustive treatise on 
this most sacred, venerable, and remarkably damp subject. 

The difficulties encountered by Captain Noah and his amiable family in the 
selection, capture, confinement and feeding of this immense and complete 
assortment of birds, animals, reptiles, insects, and animalcule, is plainly 
set forth, learned authorities are freely quoted, and the pious reader will need 
all his wealth of faith to preserve unimpaired his reverence for the inspired 
account recorded in Genesis. Published in neat pamphlet form, price, iscts. 

Vindication of Thomas Paine, a Reply to the New York 

Observer' s attack upon the Author-hero of the Revolution, by R. G. Ingersoll. 
Paper ....15 cts. 

Books that have a World Wide Reputation 



22 Catalogue of Liberal Classics, 

Voltasre (M. de). Works. 

Voltaire's Romances. A New Edition, Profusely Illustrated. 

Contents : The White Bull ; a Satirical Romance. Zadig, or Fate ; an Oriental 
History. The Sage and the Atneist. The Princess of Babylon. The Man 
of Forty Crowns. The Huron; or Pupil of Nature. Micromegas; a Satire 
on Mankind. The World as it Goes. The Black and the White. Memnon 
the Philosopher. Andre Des Touches at Siam. Bababec. The Study of 
Nature. A Conversation with a Chinese. Plato's Dream. A Pleasure in 
Having no Pleasure. An Adventure in India. Jeannotand Colin. Travels 
of Searmentado. The Good Bramin. The Two Comforters. Ancient 
Faith and Fable, i vol., post 8vo, 480 pp., with Portrait and 82 Illustrations. 
Paper, $1.00 Extra vellum cloth, $1.50. Half calf, $3.00 

— MicrOtTiegaS. Voyage to Planet Saturn, by a native of Sirius ; 

What befell them upon this our Globe ; The Travelers Capture a Vessel ; 
What Happened in their Intercourse with Men. Also The World as it 
Goes; The Black and the White; Memnon the Philosopher; Andres des 
Touches at Siam; Barabec ; The Study of Nature; A Conversation with a 
Chinese ; Plato's Drearn ; Pleasure in having no Pleasure ; An Adventure in 
India; Jeannot and Colin; The i ravels of Searmentado; The Good 
Bramin ; The Two Comforters ; Faith and Fable, by M. de Voltaire. Pa. 25c. 

Man Of Forty CrC WnS. National Poverty ; An Adventure 

with a Carmelite ; The Man of Forty Crowns marries, becomes a father, 
and discants upon the monks; A Great Ouarrel ; A Rascal Repulsed ; also 
THE HURON; OR, PUPIL OF NATURE. The Huron arrives in 
France ; Is Acknowledged by his Relatives ; Is Converted ; Is Baptized ; 
Falls in Love ; Fiies to his Mistress ; Repulses the English ; Goes to Court ; 
Is shut up in the Bastile, etc., by M. de Voltaire Paper, 25 cts. 

Sage and the Atheist, with Introduction, including the Ad- 
ventures of Johnny, a Young Englishman, by Donna Las Naigas. Also, 
THE PRINCESS OF BABYLON. Royal Contest for the Hand of 
Formosanta ; The King of Babylon convenes his Council and Consults the 
Oracle ; Royal Festival Given in Honor of the Kingly Visitors ; Formosanta 
Begins a Journey; Aldea slopes with the King of Scythia ; Formosanta 
Visits China and Scythia in Search of Amazan ; Amazan Visits Albion; 
An Unfortunate Adventure in Gaul, etc., by M. de Voltaire Paper, 25 cts. 

' —Zadig ; Or* Fate. The Blind of One Eye ; The Nose ; The Dog 

and the Horse; The Envious Man; The Generous; The Minister; The 
Disputes and the Audiences; The Woman Beater; The Funeral Pile ; The 
Supper ; The Rendezvouz ; The Robber ; The Fisherman ; The Basilisk ; 
The Combats; The Hermit; The Enigmas, etc., also The WHITE BULL; 
a Satirical Romance. How the Princess Arnasidia meets a Bull ; How She 
had a Secret Conversation with a Beautiful Serpent. The Seven Years Pro- 
claimed by Daniel are accomplished. Nebuchadnezzer resumes the Human 
Form. Marries the Beautifui'Amasidia, etc., by M. de Voltaire. Paper, 25c. 

^° Sir John Lubbock names Zadig in his list of the 100 best books ever writtent 

Voltaire; A Lecture. By Robert G. Ingersoll, with a portrait of 

the great French Philosopher and Poet, never before published.... Paper, 25c, 

Hugo's (Victor) Oration on Voltaire. French and 

English translation on opposite pages. With the Three Great Poems of 
Goethe, George Eliot, and Longfellow 10 cts. 

Philosophical Dictionary. Fifteenth American Edition. 

Two volumes in one. 876 large octavo pages, two elegant steel engravings. 
Sheep $5- 00 

Pocket Theology. Witty and Sarcastic Definitions of Theo- 
logical Terms 2 5 cts - 

I thank Voltaire, who lighted a torch in the brain of man, unlocked the 

doors of superstition's cells, and gave liberty to many millions of his fellowmen. 

Voltaire— a name that sheds light. Voltaire — a star that superstition's darkness 

cannot quench. — Robert G. Ingersoll. 



Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 23 

Old Spanish Romances. 

Illustrated by 48 beautiful Etchings by R. de Los Rios. 12 vols., 
crown 8vo, cloth $18.00 ; half calf extra, or, half morocco, $36.00. 



The History of Don Quixote of la Mancha. 

Translated from the Spanish of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra by 
Motteux. With copious notes (including the Spanish Ballads), and 
an Essay on the Life and Writings of Cervantes, by John G. Lockhart. 
Preceded by a Short Notice of the Life and Works of Peter Anthony 
Motteux, by Henri Van Laun. Illustrated with sixteen original 
.etchings by R. de Los Rios. 4 vols., post 8vo, 1,758 pp., $6.00. 

Lazarillo de Tormes. (Life and Adventures of) 

Translated from the Spanish of Don Diego Hurtado De Mendoza, 
by Thomas Roscoe. Also, the Life a.nd Adventures of 
Guzman d'Alfarache; or, The Spanish Rogue, by 

Mateo Aleman. Translated from the French edition of Le Sage, 
by John Henry Brady. Illustrated with eight original etchings by 
R. de Los Rios. 2 vols., post 8vo, 729 pp., $3.00. 

A^mocieus, or the Devil upon Two Sticks. 

Preceded by dialogues, serious and comic between Two Chimneys 
of Madrid. Translated from the French of Alain Rene Le Sage, 
illustrated with four orginal etchings by R. de Los Rios. 1 vol., 
post8vo., 332 PP-, #1.50- 

The Bachelor Of Salamanca. By Le Sage. Trans- 
lated from the French by James Townsend. Illustrated with four 
original etchings by R. de Los Rios. 1 vol., post 8vo, 400 pp., $1.50 

Vanillo Gonzales, or the Merry Bachelor. By 

Le Sage. Translated from the French. Illustrated with four original 
etchings by R. de Los Rios. 1 vol., post 8vo. 455 pp., $1.50. 

The Adventures of Gil Bias of Santillane. 

Translated from the French of Le Sage by Tobias Smollett. With 
biographical and critical notice of Le Sage by George Saintsbury. 
New edition, carefully revised. Illustrated with twelve original etch- 
ings by R. de Los Rios. 3 vols., post 8vo. 1,200 pp., $4.50. 



Press Notices. 

" This prettily printed and prettily illustrated collection of Spanish Ro- 
mances deserve their welcome from all students of seventeenth century liter- 
ature.''— The Times. 

"A handy and beautiful edition of the works of the Spanish masters of 
romance We may say of this edition of the immortal work of Cer- 
vantes that it is most tastefully and admirably executed, and that it is em- 
bellished with a series of striking etchings from the pen of the Spanish artist 
De los Rios."— Daily Telegraph. 

" Handy in form, they are well printed from clear type, and ar® got tip 
with much elegance ; the etchings are full of humor and force. The i'ead- 
iag public have reason to congratulate tnemselves that so neat, compact* and 
Vt&i arranged an edition of romances that can never die is put wi£Jaa their 
gess&is. The publisher has spared no pains with them."— Scotsmat 



2$ Catalogue of Liberal Classics. 

Popular editions of the Spanish Romances. 
Asmodeus; or, the Devil upon Two Sticks. 

By A. R. Le Sage. With designs by Tony Johannot. Translated 
from the French. With fourteen Illustrations. Post 8vo, 332 pp., 
paper, 50 cts., cloth $1.00. 

A new illustrated edition of one of the masterpieces of the world of fiction. 

The Bachelor Of Salamanca. By Le Sage. Trans- 
lated from the French by James Townsend, with five illustrations 
by R. de Los Rios. 400 pp., paper, 50 cts., cloth $1.00. 

Adventures related in an amusing manner. The writer exhibits remark- 
able boldness, force, and originality while charming us by his surprising 
flights of imagination and his profound knowledge of Spanish character. 

Vanillo Gonzales, or the Merry Bachelor. By 

Le Sage. Translated from the French. With five illustrations by 
R. de Los Rios. 455 pages, paper 50 cts., cloth $1.00. 
Audacious, witty, and entertaining in the highest degree. 

The Adventures of Gil Bias of Santillane. 

Translated from the French of Le Sage by Tobias Smollett. With 
biographical and critical notice of Le Sage by George Saintsbury. 
New edition, carefully revised. With twelve illustrations by R. de 
Los Rios. 3 vols., post 8vo, 1,200 pp., cloth $3.00. 
A classic in the realm of entertaining literature. 

Napoleon. Memoirs of the Life, Exile, and Conversations of the 
Emperor Napoleon, by the Count de Las Cases. With eight steel 
portraits, maps and illustrations. Four vols., post 8vo, each 400 
pp., cloth, $5.00, half calf extra, $10.00. 

With his Son the Count devoted himself at St. Helena to the care of the Em- 
peror, and passed his evenings in recording his remarks. 

Napoleon in Exile; or A Vo.*ce from St. Helena. 

Opinions and Reflections of Napoleon on the Most Important Events 
in his Life and Government, in his own words. By Barry E. 
O'Meara, his late Surgeon. Portrait of Napoleon, after Delaroche, 
and a view of St. Helena, both on steel. 2 vols., post 8vo, 662 pp., 
cloth $2.50, in half*calf extra, $5.00. 

Mr. O'Meara's work contains a body of the most interesting and valuable 
information— information the accuracy' of which stands unimpeached by any 
attacks made against its author. The details in Las Cases' work and those of 
Mr. O'Meara mutually support each other. 

Shakespeare Portrayed by Himself. AReveia> 

tion of the Poet in the Career and Character of one of his own Dra^ 
matic Heroes. By Robert Waters. 1 vol., i2mo., cloth extra, $1.25. 

In this able and interesting work on Shakespeare, the author shows con. 
clusivelv how our great poet revealed himself, his life, and his character. It 
is written in good and clear language, exceedingly picturesque, and is alto- 
gether the best popular life of Shakespeare that has yet appeared. 



ptlBCISJJEI^, BOO^SElTEI^ & I/T)pO^JEF{, 

No. 117 East 21st Street, 
NEW YORK CITY. 



Only authorized Publisher of Col. Robert G. IngersolFs Writings, 



i-'tb 6 1899 



25 CENTS 



THE DEVIL! 



A LECTURE 



BY 



Robert G. Ingersoll. 



If the Devil should die, would God make another f 




I 



NEW YORK. 
C. P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER, 

1899. 



AN ENTIRELY NEW EDITION. 



THE 




VOLUME ONE 1VOW READY. 

Volume 1 . Large octavo, 1431 pages, -wide margins, large 
and handsome type; fine steel portrait; elegantly- 
bound in cloth., gold back and side stamps ; marble 
edges ; naif morocco, full sheep, library style. 

THE friends and admirers of Mr. Ingersoll's writings have long 
wanted just such a work as this. Hitherto, the publisher has 
been content with issuing each lecture, argument and other 
production separately. This volume brings together no less than 
nineteen of the Colonel's famous lectures on religious and patriotic 
subjects, and several of the orations, tributes and selections that have 
become classics in literature. It is a delight to find them here in 
such admirable and ready form for preservation and reference. The 
edition will doubtless soon be exhausted, and a second volume is 
promised that will lay the public under new obligation. A third, 
fourth, fifth, or sixth volume, each equally valuable, would not cover 
all Col. Ingersoll's writings and sayings, and those who treat them- 
selves to a copy of this first volume will want to see the series com- 
pleted — will not be happy until it is. 

COUTE1TTS OP "STOX/CT^E ±. 
The Gods; Humboldt; Individuality; Thomas Paine ; Heretics and Heresies; 
The Ghosts ; The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child ; The Centennial Oration, 
or Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1876. What I Know About Farming 
in Illinois ; Speech at Cincinnati in 1876, nominating James G. Blaine for the 
Presidency ; The Past Rises Before Me ; or, Vision of War, an extract from a 
Speech made at the Soldiers and Sailors Reunion at Indianapolis, Indiana, 
Sept. 21, 1876 ; A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll ; The Grant Banquet ; Crimes 
Against Criminals ; Tribute to the Rev. Alexander Clarke. Some Mistakes of 
Moses ; What Must We Do to be Saved ? Blasphemy, Argument in the trial of 
C. B. Reynolds. Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons t y 
the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D. ; to which is added a Talmagian Catechism, 
and four Prefaces, which contain some of Mr. Ingersoll's best and brightes" 
sayings. 

Price, postpaid, cloth $8.50 ; half morocco $5.00 ; full sheep $5.00, 

Size of volume 10^ x -]Y X x 1%, weight 6% lbs. 



C. P. Fhrrell, 

(0nlj/ autfiori^ed publisher of Gol. Ingersoll's* bool^s. 

USTZETW YORK. 



(Over.) 



(Tust Oia.t, Nccr- 3t3 ci.it ions 

Prose-Poems anil Seiectioas, 

BY 

ROBERT G. IWGERSOLL. 

Sirth Edition, Revised and greatly Enlarged. A Handsome Quarto, 
containing over 400 pages. 

THIS is, beyond question, the most elegant volume in Liberal literature. Its 
mechanical finish is worthy of its intrinsic exc jllence. No expense has 
been spared to make if the thing of beauty it is. The type is large and 
clear, the paper heavy, highly calendered and richly tinted, the press- 
work faultless, and the binding as perfect as the best materials and skill can 
make it. The book is in every way an artistic triumph. 

As to the contents, it is enough to say that they include some of the choicest 
utterances of the greatest writer on the topics treated that has ever lived. 

You will have in this book of selections many bright samples of his lofty 
thought, his matchless eloquence, his wonderful imagery, and his epigrammatic 
and poetic power. 

The book is designed for, and will be accepted by, admiring friends as a rare 
personal souvenir. To help it serve this purpose, a fine steel portrait, with au- 
tograph fac-simile, has been prepared especially for it. In the more elegant 
styles of binding it is eminently suited for presentation purposes, for any season 
or occasion. 



Oration delivered on Decora- 
tion Day, 1882, before the 
Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, at the Academy of 
Music, N. Y., 

A Tribute to Ebon C. Inger- 
soll, 

A Vision of War. 

At a Child's Grave, 

Benefits for Injuries, 

We Build, 

A Tribute to the Rev. Alex- 
ander Clark, 

The Grant Banquet, 

Apostrophe to Liberty. 

A Tribute to John G. Mills, 

The Warp and Woof, 

The Cemetery, 

Originality, 

Then and Now, 

Voltaire, 

Lazarus. 

What is Worship ? 

Humboldt, 

God Silent, 

Alcohol, 

Auguste Comte, 

The Infidel, 

Napoleon, 

The Republic, 

Dawn of the New Day, 

Reformers, 

The Garden of Eden, 

Thomas Paine. 

The Age of Faith, 

Origin of Religion, 



CONTENTS. 

The Unpardonable Sin, 

The Olive Branch, 

Free Will, 

The King of Death, 

The Wise Man, 

Bruno, 

The Real Bible, 

Benedict Spinoza, 

The First Doubt, 

The Infinite Horror, 

Nature, 

Night and Morning, 

The Conflict, 

Death of the Aged, 

The Charity of Extravagance 

Woman, 

The Sacred Myths, 

Inspiration, 

Religious Liberty of the Bible. 

The Laugh of a child. 

The Christian Night, 

My Choice, 

Why? 

Imagination, 

Science, 

If Death Ends All, 

Here and There, 

How Long ? 

Liberty, 

Jehovah and Brahma, 

The Free Soul, 

Life, 

Tribute to Henry Ward 

Beecher, 
Tribute to Courtlandt Palmer 
The Brain, 



The Sacred Leaves, 

Origin and Destiny. 

What is Poetry ? 

My Position, 

Good and Bad, 

The Miraculous Book, 

Orthodox Dotage, 

The Abcitionists, 

Providence, 

The Man Christ, 

The Divine Salutation, 

At the Grave of Benjamin W. 

Parker, 
Fashion and Beauty. 
Apostrophe to Science, 
Elizur Wright. 
The Imagination, 
No Respecter of Persons, 
Abraham Lincoln, 
The Meaning of Law, 
What is Blasphemy ? 
Some Reasons, 
Selections, 
Love, 

The Birthplace of Burns. 
Mrs. Ida Whiting Knowles, 
Art and Morality, 
Tribute to Roscoe Conklin, 
Tribute to Rich'd H.Whiting. 
Mrs. Mary H. Fiske, 
Horace Seaver, 
The Music of Wagner, 
Leaves of Grass, 
Vivisection, 

The Republic of Mediocrity, 
A Tribute to Walt Whitma n> 

$2.50 



In Cloth, beveled boards, gilt edges, 

In Half Morocco, gilt edges, - 5.00 

In Half Calf, mottled edges, library style, - 4.50 

In Full Turkey Morocco, gilt, exquisitely fine, 7.50 

In Full Tree-Calf, highest possible finish, - 9.00 

Sent to any address, by express, prepaid, or mail, post free, on receipt of price, 

J&g~A cheaper edition from same plates, good paper, wide margins, cloth, $1.50. 



Address C. P. FARRELL, Publisher, 

July, 1895. New York City. N.Y. 



LIBRARY OF LIBERAL CLASSICS. 



I 
H 
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H 
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Bound in the Highest Possible Style of the Art* 



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